Fate: Corruption
by 3Keys21Mind
Summary: Visiting Ilya from the Clock Tower, Shirou discovers that his vacation won't be as peaceful as he thought. Not only does he get attacked in the park, Ilya is getting worse, Sakura is becoming distant and did he mention the 6th Grail War?
1. Old Friends

I am trying to use as many legitimate Type/Moon rules as possible. That being said, if I do break something... just calm your hormones, ok?

This is the sequel to a Stay Night/Unlimited Blade Works Universe.

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**Chapter One: Old Friends**

Shirou Emiya breathed deeply, running his fingers through his grey streaked hair. It had been the longest 12 hours of his life, but he was home in Japan!

It had been almost a year since he had been on a plane. Last time, it had been with Rin, heading to England to train at the infamous Magus Academy: The Clock Tower. He had left his older sister, just a month after discovering her, in hopes of finding a way to cure the smaller girl. While he hadn't found one, he was back to see her.

He had left the care of his house to his sister, and care of Ilya to his best friend Sakura and guardian/older sister Taiga and could only hope that nothing disastrous had happened. In one of the dozen letters he had exchanged with Ilya, he had learned that she had done 'a little bit of redecorating' and was frightened of the result.

Despite himself, he chatted up the customs and security agents, just happy to be speaking Japanese again. The only person he had spoken Japanese to in the last year was Rin, and while did enjoy talking to her, it was nice to be able to have a full conversation with someone new. Once he got through customs and security, he started home.

He only lived about 30 minutes away, but decided to take a short detour. He hadn't been to see his father since the Grail War. He hated going—he remembered his father alive, and preferred to keep it that way, but felt drawn to pay his respects. He didn't even know what he would say to him. Over the last year, he had been doing everything his father had asked him not to. He had been a Master in the Grail War and he was training with other Magus at the academy.

He stopped in front of the simple stone. He didn't pray or anything, he just looked down blankly. It was simple—the simplest Shirou could find at the time. He knew his father would have wanted something inconspicuous.

"I won't be Archer," was all he could think to say, even though his father wouldn't know about his son's future self. "I'll be a Hero of Justice. I won't be Archer."

"It makes me feel better to talk to them too." Shirou whipped around, a mental gun cocked and a sword traced in his mind if this person was a threat. He was greeted by a grey haired girl with vibrant amber eyes, a bundle of carnations in her arms and in a dress from The Church. "Who is he?" she asked, nodding her head at his fathers stone.

"A hero," he answered softly, turning back to it. He didn't trust the church enough to say who he was.

"A hero?" she asked before smiling. "Then he deserves one of these!" she placed one of her flowers on his gravestone and said a little prayer, before turning back to Shirou.

"You look tired. Have you been travelling?" she asked innocently. Shirou shrugged. 'A little,' he said. He didn't know why, but this woman was making his skin crawl. "Well! You better head home and rest then! Surprises are always more fun that way!" she smiled then turned and walked further into the cemetery, leaving Shirou flabbergasted.

"Surprises?" He sighed and turned away. He didn't have time to deal with perplexing strangers. It had been a short visit, but it was all he could ever manage. As he came to the end of the graveyard, he looked back.

It was huge. He hated that thousands of them were probably from the Grail Wars, and a couple from the 5th—but it would never happen again; he had seen to it. As sad as it made him to know anyone had died over a disagreement between 4 people, 551 years ago, he was a happy to know that no one new would join them.

"I wonder if I should text her or something..." he thought out loud, looking down at his cell phone as he started to walk the rest of the way home.

"_Shirou! You are being a child!" Rin yelled, glaring angrily at the red head._

"_Why is it childish to want to go see my sisters, Rin?" he asked, starting to raise his voice as well. He just couldn't understand what problem Rin had with him leaving for a week! He was just worried about Ilya, and to be honest, a little homesick of Japan. _

_He hadn't been to Japan in almost a year. He had been getting the crap kicked out of him in doujos and sitting in classrooms with Rin while she –and others- tried to teach him magic other than Projection. It had been slow going and arduous, but effective. _

"_Fine!" Rin huffed, crossing her arms and turning away from him stubbornly. "If you want to abandon your training and run back home, count me out."_

"_I... didn't ask you to come..." Shirou pointed out. He knew that Rin's jewel magic research was important to her, and would never ask her to leave it to chase him half way around the globe._

_She stiffened and glared at him before yelling 'idiot' and slamming the door behind her as she stomped off. Shirou just scratched his head, wracking his brain for what could have possibly irritated the brunette. _

He smirked fondly. She probably wouldn't answer. It would probably vibrate, scare her and lead to her blowing it up... again. She really did hate technology. He shook his head and sent one off anyway. '_You don't need to answer me, but I'm here safe._'

Shirou put his phone away and grinned, looking up and the long wooden house he had grown up in. Boy had he missed it! The houses and buildings in England around the Clock Tower were beautiful, but nothing beat the faint smell of sandalwood and sliding rice paper doors.

"Ilya! I'm home!"

Sitting with Ilya in front of the TV while they finished their supper, with Ilya babbling on about a Magical Girl Anime she had started watching after he left, had been the happiest Shirou had been in about a year.

As content as he was now, he had almost had a heart attack when he had first walked in the door. While she hadn't painted the walls, Ilya's idea of 'A bit of redecorating' was to give every cabinet, piece of furniture, decoration and floor mat an obnoxious, pre-teen dose of several shades of pink. He had stood completely shocked by the state of his home, while a proud, grinning Ilya waited patiently and innocently for his response.

"Shirou! Look!" At Ilya's cry, he was broken from his memories and quickly turned to the tv, where a woman was talking about a resent gas leak in an up-scale hotel not far from them. The breaking news cast seemed to have interrupted Ilya's show.

"— _Doctors believe that the 24 victims of the accident will recover completely, although, they are still in a coma. In other news, a turkey was pulled from a car toda—_"Shirou clicked the sound off, sitting in silence with his sister.

"It sounds like Rider—"

"Impossible," Shirou muttered quietly. "Saber and I destroyed the Grail, and even if we hadn't, it's only been a year..." Ilya nodded in agreement, turned the sound back on the tv and turned back to her show, babbling on again. "A year ago..." he muttered, thinking back.

This time last year, he would have been sitting with Ilya, Rin and Saber, eating their meals and living together. He missed that. He missed _her._

The next morning, Shirou was awakened by his old teacher breaking his door off and tackling him. He hadn't told anyone that he was home, as he wanted it to be a surprise, but was soon regretting it. Before he knew what was going on, he was sitting beside Ilya at the table while Taiga rambled on about things that had happened since he left, and scooping huge amounts of food onto his plate.

He had purposely picked a day that Ilya said she was on a trip with the Kendo club, hoping to surprise her. She had gotten home early, apparently, and gotten the jump on him, however.

"It's great to see you too, Fuji-nee," he muttered tiredly around a bite of food.

"What are they doing to you at this college, Shirou!?" she suddenly asked, right in front of him and tugging on his bangs. "You're hair..!" He was confused, before remembering that his training had been messing with his looks. He didn't mind the tan, but probably could have done without the greying hair.

"You know how it is," he waved off with a nervous laugh. "Studying hard! Just school stress stuff..."

"Mama's hair was grey," Ilya mentioned, pointing at her own head. "Sometimes hair is just grey." Taiga nodded, shrugging. Shirou sighed thankfully as Taiga walked back into the kitchen to answer the ringing phone.

"Thanks for that," he muttered, turning back to his food.

"I thought the wake up would be enough amusement for this morning," she said with a little giggle.

"Shirou, I know just got home, but could you do me a favor?" Taiga asked, calmly walking over again. Shirou just nodded. "One of Oyabun's associates just had his daughter move in with him from England," she started. "She'll be going to the school, but needs her motorbike fixed to get there..." she trailed off.

"Sure, Fuji-nee," he started. "It'll give me something to do when everyone is busy." She smiled thankfully before excusing herself to go to school.

"So what did you wanna do today, Ilya?" he asked, picking up their plates and walking into the kitchen to clean them.

"I'm not sure," she answered, standing up and stretching. The phone rang again and she sighed. "So many calls, so early in the morning." As Shirou's hands were wet, she stepped up on her tip toes and grabbed the phone.

"Good morning, Sakura-nee!" Ilya said happily into the phone, turning to Shirou to gage his reaction. He just smiled at her. "Supper tonight?" she asked. "Something Japanese would be fine." Ilya tried not to giggle at Shirou's grumbling stomach. Ilya didn't care much for Japanese food, but figured that Shirou probably missed it. "I have a friend over though, so please bring enough for 4 people?" After a pause, Ilya said good bye and hung up the phone.

"Sakura's been taking good care of you, huh?" Shirou asked.

"She cooks and cleans for us, if that is what you're asking," she answered. "I am older than her. She doesn't 'look after me'." Shirou just smiled and shook his head. He'd have to thank Sakura. Everyone knew that Taiga couldn't cook and was more destructive than anything. Sakura must be taking good care of the house.

"I'm just going to go watch TV if you want to go out." Ilya said, sitting on her cushion in front of the television and turning it on. "Go get that bike, maybe."

Shirou sighed. He would rather spend some time with Ilya, but looking out the kitchen window, it looked like it would rain and he probably wouldn't get a chance to do it later.

"Alright. But I'll try and be back before it rains and we can do something together."

Shirou walked down the familiar path to the Fujimura family complex, thinking about everything that had happened over the last year. He had fought in the Holy Grail war to end them all. He had summoned the King of Knights—and fought beside her along with the most cocky woman he had ever met, and his haughty future self. He found his smaller, older sister, discovered her magical illness and she came to live with him. With the help of the woman-king, he had destroyed the source of countless deaths and with it; he had destroyed his chances of seeing his beloved Saber again.

After destroying the Grail, he had travelled half way across the globe with Tohsaka Rin to train at an academy full of Magus' with the hopes of not only developing his magical circuits he had promised not to use in public or around other Magus', but of finding a way of curing his sister.

Now he was back in Japan, living the life of a normal human once again, if only for a week. He carried a constant reminder of Saber with him in his book bag though, trying helplessly to cling to his time a year ago. The small plush Lion he had won for his Saber on their only date was nestled safe on his back, away from any prying eyes.

As he approached his destination, he banished all thoughts of the Grail War, and started thinking about the internal combustion engine of a motorcycle. He had hardly touched any complex technology in a year, and wanted to make sure that it was fresh in his head. He knew he could just use structural grasping on it and figure out the problem, but he needed a distraction.

"Ah! Shirou!" He looked up and smiled at the old man, standing at the entrance of the complex.

"Hello Rai-jii-sama!" he said, bowing briefly to the older man. "Fuji-nee said that someone needed their bike fixed?" The older man smiled, nodded and showed him in.

"She's very protective of it," he started. "About her bike I mean. I would treat it like gold, if I were you." He chuckled and let him into the garage.

Startled, Shirou set his bag by the door, and walked slowly into the garage. It was the most gorgeous bike he had ever seen— the white chrome plated frame looked astonishingly like a suit of armour, guarding the black exposed engine and green lights. It was –not only the most unique- but most beautiful, amazing, immaculate bike he had ever seen in his life.

"Trace on," he muttered near silently, he didn't dare touch it, but ran his hand along the bike, blue printing it inside and out. "It's... incredible."

"What are you doing!?" Shirou felt his shirt collar get pulled from behind him so hard, the threads cracked and broke against his skin. Unprepared, he lost his balance and fell on his back with a resounding thud as his head cracked off the cement.

Shirou opened his eyes groggily to angry green eyes and blonde hair looking down on him. He couldn't make out the face through the feeling of his brain rattling against his skull, but could tell from the steadfast foot on his chest, that whoever it was, didn't want to let him go.

"What are you doing to my bike?" a female voice growled, pushing down roughly again, knocking the air out of his chest yet again. His vision was getting blurrier and blurrier by the second. If only he could use his magic—

"Get off him this second!" she was tugged off and he was allowed to breathe. Fresh air flooded into his chest, making him jolt up coughing and rubbing his head, still a little rattled about what had just happened. "He's the one I told you would fix your bike. He's family. Apologize immediately."

"It's fine, Rai-jii-sama..." he muttered, finally getting his breath back. He looked at the girl that had attacked him and his heart stopped beating in his chest. Those raging sea-green eyes, sun-kissed white skin and long blonde hair were unmistakable.

"Arturia..." he muttered to himself in disbelief.

"_Look," she started, looking away shyly. She seemed to feel bad for attacking him, but didn't want to show it. "Oyabun spoke highly of you, I just heard you are a busy man and didn't think you'd be here so soon. So go ahead and take it. I'll run by your place tomorrow evening and check on you though, so don't mess up!" _

"Senpai, would you like another rice ball?" Shirou was shocked out of his thoughts by the sweet, purple haired girl beside him.

Sakura had been so happy when she seen Shirou sitting at the table when she arrived, she couldn't help but run over and hug him. She had held back tears, but only barely. They had talked for a couple hours about things going on at his "mechanics school" in England, the Archery teams improvement in competition over the last year and anything else that popped into their heads.

While they had written letters since he left, they were both busy with school or work and didn't have time to write as often as they would like as the months went by, so they had a lot of catching up to do.

After Ilya had gone to bed, Sakura had invited herself down to Shirou's work area, and watched him as he fiddled with Arturia's bike.

"Thanks Sakura," he muttered distractedly, taking the offered Rice ball and turning back to her bike. He had easily figured out what was wrong with it—a badly worn fan belt and a couple of blown fuses. If Sakura would go upstairs for a minute so he could make the materials, the bike would be finished in 20 minutes, but she seemed adamant to stay with him, and he didn't want to use his magic in front of her, so he just played at fixing it by loosening and tightening things as he thought about what had happened earlier in the day.

He still couldn't get over that he had seen Arturia! He was fixing her bike, she had pulled him away from it, and stepped on his chest- he felt her. She was there! She had answered to Arturia, so the chances of her being some look alike were incalculably slim. It had to be her.

He got up and walked over to the closet, starting to dig around in it for a minute in hopes that Sakura would go upstairs and do something for a minute. He didn't wanna ask her to give him a minute—he understood that she missed him, but he really just wanted to finish her bike so that he could stop looking at it and try to sort his thoughts out.

"I'm going to get some drinks, Senpai," Sakura declared happily, running up the stairs. She shut the door behind her and sighed sadly before skittering about the kitchen to make his favourite tea. She leaned against the counter, waiting for the water to boil. He was acting now, like he had when he left with Tohsaka a year ago. She thought that he had been torn up about Saber leaving at the end of the Grail War, but by the time he had gone to England with Rin, it like the war had never happened. Now, he was back and miserable again. Why was he so miserable? Did he have a fight with Rin? Was it her?

"The best I can do is try to make him feel better!" she declared determinedly, shaking the negative thoughts from her head. "He'll see! I'm just as good as Rin or Saber!" She quickly put the loose tea leaves into the boiling water, before putting a couple of cups onto a tray, and taking it all downstairs.

"Senpai! The Tea—!" She called running down the stairs before being interrupted by Shirou yelling out in pain. She bounded the last stair and roughly put the tea on his work table before running over to him.

He was gripping his hand, trying to hide the blood from Sakura. It was not working.

"Hehe, the frame is sharp,"

"Oh my gosh! Senpai!" She gently grabbed his hand, seeing the blood running down his fingers and wrist. He had a nasty gash from above his wrist, clean down his hand, and across one of his fingers. It definitely looked like it hurt, and would scar. "Bandage." She gently pulled him over to the work counter and sink, and ran his hand under water, before grabbing the roll of bandages he kept there, just in case. She quickly disinfected it.

"It's alright, Sakura," he flinched as she started to wrap his hand. "I just got distracted—"

"It's my fault! I scared you..." She hid his eyes from him, leaving her hands covering his left one, as if to try and protect it from anything else that might want to hurt him.

"Sakura," he muttered softly. If he hadn't had been thinking about Arturia so much, he wouldn't have jumped, and he wouldn't have sliced his hand across –what he now knew to be—the incredibly sharp plating of her bike. She _had_ startled him, but he should have been paying attention, and couldn't blame her. He pulled her into a soft hug, minding his hand. She leaned startled against his chest, and started blushing deeply at being in his arms. "Thank you."

After a moment, she pulled away. She didn't want to, but was determined to check on the bandage and hide her blush.

"T-tea?" she asked softly. Shirou chuckled heartedly—the first real laugh he had, had all day. She blushed darker, but laughed with him.

"Why does Father have to be a Yakuza?" she quietly muttered to herself, peaking around the corner at the guards outside the house she shared with her Japanese father. Perhaps rightfully so, the entire complex was paranoid of some outside force attacking them. This made sneaking from her room to the nearby garage building hard. She held her breath and walked inaudibly toward the guards, sneaking next to one and touching his neck softly, making him instantly stiffen, but appear asleep. She quickly moved over to his partner and did the same.

She was awful at mind altering, but hoped by keeping them awake enough to see what was going on, but not awake enough to be aware of it for the 20 seconds that the spell would last, would keep them from being suspicious or taking notice of her as she ran to the next building.

She caught her breath from her little sprint, and looked around the corner. These two were talking about something stupid –a fight or something- and not really paying attention to anything around them. She narrowed her eyes. On one hand, they would be easy to slip by, but that was the problem. She couldn't tell Oyabun she was sneaking around in the middle of the night and saw them goofing off, so she made note to torture them the next chance she got. Negative reinforcement always worked at home. She easily slipped by the inattentive guards, around the corner, and over to the entrance of the garage.

They called it a garage, but it was almost the size of her father's house. It was big enough to hold 6 cars, although it was only holding one at the moment. She had intimidated most of the men into parking in other places, saying she didn't want them near her bike. Realistically, it was the biggest indoor space for her to use magic in. The only car in there now, was Oyabun's.

Arturia tip-toed into the garage, checking outside the door before clicking it closed quietly. She looked around to make sure that no one was around before sighing and leaned against the door. It was hard to sneak around a campus of Yakuzas.

She put her hand on the door knob, making it glow a soft blue that quickly engulfed the whole building. "Locked and barrier up. That should keep nosy people out." She walked further into the room, flipping through an old book as she did so.

She got to the middle of the room and stopped, facing the big sliding garage door. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a shimmer of red peeking out from underneath the table by the door. Curious, she walked over and picked it up.

"A ruby necklace?" she questioned, holding her book in one hand and the mysterious necklace in the other. She could feel just the smallest taint of prana coming off it, as if it had been used up, but kept close to a Magus anyway. "Who here would have a Magus' ruby necklace?" She stood puzzled for a minute before putting the broken chain into her Jeans pocket and walking back to the middle of the room. She'd worry about it after she finished her spell.

"_I hereby propose. Thou shalt come under my command, and thy sword shall control my fate._" The wind picked up a bit beneath her feet and the bright red marks of a Master appeared on her hand. "_Abiding by the summons of the Holy Grail, if thou dost accede to this will and reason, answer me_." A giant magic circle appeared below her feet. She had built it the night before, but then someone had come in trying to spy on her and she didn't get a chance to use it. "_I hereby swear I am all that is good in the eternal world. I am the disposer of evil in the eternal world._" A spark flew across her mind's eye, dictating that something had crossed her outer barrier around the complex—something magic. She turned back to her book, speeding up her reading. She didn't know if it was a threat, but if it was, she would probably need the help of a Servant. "_Thou, clad with the Great Trinity, come forth from the circle of constraint—_" Her concentration was broken when something broke through her barrier and sent her flying into the wall behind her with a loud bang.

"Getting rid of the stupid Masters before they summon is the easiest way." She looked up from under her bangs at the Magus and Servant that had interrupted her summons.

The room quickly filled with a thick, black, magic cloud that covered not only the huge, intimidating form of the Servant, but the much smaller Magus as well. Her garage door was fully intact, half making Arturia wonder how they got through the barrier and door without breaking either one, but she quickly discarded the thought. Her book had flown in the other direction and was now by her attackers feet, so the chances of her getting it back was slim.

'_I need to get to the summoning circle!_' she yelled in her head. '_But how?_' In a sudden gust of wind, she was shoved against the wall again, cracking her head against the wall. She felt the thick, cold, clammy hands of the mysterious Servant wrap around her throat. It squeezed a bit, cutting off oxygen to her brain, and further ruined her vision. She hung onto the hand of the massive Servant, trying to stop her neck from breaking. As he passed around her summoning circle to take her to the Master, she got an idea.

She formed a tiny fireball and tossed it at the Master. '_Distract them_' she begged in her head. They sidestepped toward the summoning circle and laughed at the little fire on the concrete.

"You think that would do anything?" they huffed. "Berserker, stomp out that little Magus' hopes." Arturia reinforced her leg. She needed enough force to distract a Berserker, while still leaving her enough prana to summon a Servant when she hit the ground. As the Berserker lifted its foot, she kicked at the other leg, feeling her own bones crack under the pressure. It lost it's balance, letting out a strangled growl of pain and flinging her away. She landed against the wall in front of her Oyabun's car, feeling her head crack against the wall again. '_It only staggered? Fuck..._'

She tried to shake her blurred vision away. She started crawling toward the circle in the middle of the room. The throbbing of her head and broken leg was almost unbearable, but she knew that if she didn't make it to that circle, she'd be dead, and the pain would mean nothing.

'_What was the spell? Guardian. Guardian of something... Think Arturia!_' She shook her head again, trying in vain to remember what the last line of the summoning spell was. She had read it dozens of times over in her head, but she was under such strange pressure –a definite concussion, a shattered leg, and the very really possibility of dying— that she just couldn't remember. '_Guardian, guardian, guardian..?_' Finally reaching the circle '_What would someone use the Grail to defend?_' She shook her head one more time, shoving her hand into the circle "_Guardian of the Earth!_" her command seals started to glow a little brighter, as did her pocket.

Before her eyes, a tall, tanned, muscular man in red and black appeared before her in a burst of light and shimmering, old magic.

"Get rid of them!" she yelled, pulling her arm out of her Servants way. The red Servant launched at the Servant that had just gained its ground back. Her guardian summoned two black and white swords, slashing repeatedly at the massive enemy while effortlessly dodging the erratic clumsy swings of his arms.

Arturia vaguely seen the Berserker Servant block two attacks from her new one, before he jumped back in front of her.

"You're pretty sturdy for such a little girl," he declared. He glanced over at the dark figure of the Master by the door. Quickly, they barked an order to their defender who barely made it to block an attack from the two swords. Again, the red Servant backed off, this time throwing his white sword toward the Berserker, but it went over their shoulder.

"H-Ha! You missed—!" The Master was cut off as the sword swung around behind them, leaving a small cut on the their arm.

"I did? I'm sorry, I must be really bad at this," he muttered. The Master called off the attack, summoning their Servant back to their side.

"Not worth fighting a Servant right now." With that, all the smoke in the room retreated back to the figures and they vanished.

"Are you alright?" he asked gruffly, unsummoning his swords and crossing his arms, looking down at the blonde.

"Fine," she said, flinching. She stared down at her leg as she tried to concentrate enough to put the bone back in place. She shook her head and held it in her hands, instead deciding to work on her concussion. After a minute, she seemed to gain enough sense back to work on her leg, never looking up at her new Servant. She sighed in defeat, realizing that she would be walking with a limp in the morning—she just didn't have enough prana to completely heal herself. "Arturia Knight. You?"

When Arturia finally looked up to see her new Servants face, she was met with snow white hair and shocked grey eyes.

'_Saber?_'

Shirou passed store by store, following the excited little girl in front of him. She didn't pass a window without excitedly claiming how cute, tasty or awesome something was, with loud, child-like exuberance.

After dropping Arturia's bike off with Oyabun, Shirou was now taking Ilya to the park for some much needed fresh air and bonding. While he was nervous of seeing her again, he had half hoped that Arturia would be at the compound. Ilya didn't believe that the Woman King was in Japan, let alone alive again. Unluckily –or luckily?—Arturia was at school when he stopped by. It probably was for the best anyway; the only thing he could think to do when he saw her, was to gape like a fish.

"Onii-chan!" Ilya yelled, pausing in her run for the swing set. "Push me!" He smiled fondly and ran over to the swing set. He pushed her gently, but hard enough to make her squeal with joy as she flew higher and higher.

As he pushed her, he stared at his bandaged hand and contemplated taking it off, but quickly shot it down. Sakura was expecting a serious, decently deep cut on his hand. It was probably healed by now, and not having the cut, would draw suspicion, so he kept the bandage on as a ruse.

Unexpectedly, the back of his hand started to sting, and he moved out of the way of the swing, staring at the back of his hand.

"Onii-chan?" Ilya asked, starting to slow herself down. "Why'd you stop?"

"It should be healed," he muttered, holding up his hand. Suddenly, his cell phone went off. Pulling out his cell, he narrowed his eyes at the name blinking on his screen.

"_How the hell do you _use_ this damnable thing!?_"

"Rin? Why are you using your cell phone? What's up?" he asked, cutting off the young woman's' rant.

"_Shirou_!" she yelled. "_Why didn't you answer your phone last night? Are you ok?_" she asked franticly.

Stopped on the swing, Ilya suddenly started looking around her, confusing Shirou.

"One minute, Rin," he put his hand over the mouthpiece, ignoring the yells from the Magus on the phone. "What's wrong, Ilya?"

"Strong Prana," was all she said, standing up from the swing and walking over beside her brother.

"_Shirou! You bastard—_"

"Sorry Rin, got a pro—" Before Shirou could finish his sentence, he noticed a spear fly at them from above. Quickly, he grabbed his little sister and jumped out of the way of the incoming weapon. A large crater was left on the ground where Shirou and Ilya had just been standing, with the weapon lodged in the ground. The backlash from the magically enhanced attack tore at his clothes as he tried to protect his sister from the aftershock, exposing dark red marks under his bandage. His eyes opened in shock, and tore the rest of his bandages off. There on his hands, were the glaring marks of a Grail War Master.

Suddenly, a form appeared in the hole of a dark skinned man wearing a white toga with silver arm and leg bracers, and a silver helmet with white wings extending from it. He stood up showing the green gems on various pieces of his armour. He pulled the spear from the ground, and jumped to the opposite side of the crater to stand beside a foreign teenager.

"Γαμώτο I missed," the Servant exclaimed, crouching back to an offensive stance.

"Command your Servant, Magus," he yelled cockily. "Defend yourself." He adjusted his fedora against his dark brown hair and lifted his head, showing his bright brown eyes and goatee.

"What!?" Shirou asked dodging another attack with Ilya in his arms. "Lancer?!" he cried, dodging the man's attempt to stab through his head.

"He's a slippery one..."

"Keep attacking!"

"Shirou! Defend!" Ilya called as if commanding a Servant again. She wasn't used to having to be defensive, but wasn't fond of the idea of them dying either.

"Trace: On!" he muttered. He dropped Ilya off at the side, before he flung his arms down, then instantly brought them back up, using the black and white swords from EMIYA to block the latest attack. He countered, pushing his lance away and moving to slice down his chest, but he avoided the blow.

"Nice projection," the teenager called as Shirou continued to fight off the Servant "Why aren't you using your Servant though?"

Shirou was at a loss of words. Why did he have Command Seals? What was he doing with a _Servant_? The war had only been done a year! They had destroyed the Grail a year ago with Saber? This shouldn't be happening!

"What are—how are you—what the hell is going on!?"

"What am I doing with a Servant? Kicking your ass at the moment. I'm a Magus, to answer your second question, and I know you are a Master! So if you don't call on your Servant, Rider is going to crucify you!" he answered cockily. "Rider! Ready!" the teen called. The Servant backed off to stand beside his Master in a defensive stance, ready to spring at any moment. Shirou stayed in front of Ilya defensively. He didn't understand how someone had a Servant, but if someone was after the Grail, they must be after Ilya.

"I—I don't have a Servant!" Shirou called, posing ready to defend again, encase the "Rider" attacked again. "No one should," he added quietly.

"Down Rider," the teen muttered. "What do you mean you don't have a Servant? Who's that?"

"The Grail was destroyed," Shirou answered darkly. Did he think Ilya was a Servant? He looked down at the innocent Lolita beside him. She did have an insane amount of prana for a 'human'. If he didn't know better, he might have thought her one too. "And she's a little girl—A Magus, but a little girl," He lied a little. Despite her appearance, Ilya was probably around his age—a little older. He knew Ilya hated being called a little girl, but hoped she would go with it for now. If he knew she was a homunculus, he might try and take her for the Grail.

"Saber did," Ilya added with a smile, making Shirou glare at her.

"Well, apparently, you didn't do it well enough," the teen said matter-of-factly. He relaxed a bit. "This sucks. It's not worth taking out a defenceless Master." He sighed and adjusted his hat again. "Let alone the last Grail Winner... How about this: I'll give you until tomorrow evening to summon a Servant; but if you don't, I'll kill you so I don't have to worry about it later, clear?" Without waiting for an answer, he ran off and Rider disappeared into a shimmering dust.

"A Grail War?" Ilya asked herself, crossing her arms and shaking her head in disappointment. "Looks like I was right..."

Shirou sighed, slumping to the ground and vanishing his projections.

First the strange news cast, then Arturia shows up and now he was apparently a Master in the newest Grail War—the one he vowed would never exist. What a vacation. He phone went off again, reminding him that he had hung up on the temperamental gem Magus.

"_Shirou! I didn't call to catch up!_" she yelled when she noticed that he had answered. "_I'm on a connector flight from Hong Kong to Fuyuki city! You won't believe what showed up last night!_"

"Command seals?" he muttered tiredly. He heard her gasp on the other end and knew he was right. Great.

"_You too? What's going on?_" she asked, much quieter this time. "_It was destroyed!_"

"I don't know Rin, but Ilya doesn't seem to have any..." he trailed off, looking at the white haired girl, who just looked back at him blankly. "Boy do we have a lot to talk about when you get home."


	2. Servants

Thank you for the support guys! Sorry for the wait!

**A/N **It was brought to my attention that I messed Shirou's house up a little. He doesn't have a basement. So, I'll fix that in future chapters.

Just as a point: Gradiation Air (AKA: Projection Magic) is common, and not just for Shirou. Because of Shirou's reality Marble, he DOES have a type of Projection magic specific to him, but all projection magic is not exclusive to him. If you want to learn a little more, look up** Gradiation Air on Type/Moon Wiki**. This is my main source of extended universe information.

Other than that, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Two: Servants**

Ilya and Shirou met Rin at the airport, where Rin called a chauffeur to get them, and take them to her house. After Shirou explaining that he and Ilya had been attacked –and would be again the next night— she thought it was safer to stay at her place, where wards and barriers would at least give them a warning to someone trying to attack. She also argued that if this mysterious foreigner had known that Shirou was in the last war, he knew who he was and it would be easy to find where he lived, and attack there. At least for the night while they were trying to summon, it would be safer to stay at her house.

Once they arrived, she led them up to her father's study, and insisted that Shirou could find something here to summon a Servant with. Shirou nodded and was about to dig in, when Rin held her hand out in front of him.

"What?" he asked.

"Give me your necklace— I want Archer back." He rolled his eyes. Of course Rin would want his annoying older self back. He stuck his hand in his shirt to grab the necklace, but found nothing. His eyes widened a bit, and started feeling his pockets for it. Nothing. "Stop horsing around and give me your necklace!" Rin insisted. Shirou blushed and started panicking, patting his pockets and fishing around his neck again for the red jewel.

"_What are you doing!?" Shirou felt his shirt collar get pulled from behind him so hard, the threads cracked and broke against his skin. Unprepared, he lost his balance and fell on his back with a resounding thud as his head cracked off the cement. _

It must not have been just his collar cracking. Arturia must have snapped the chain on his necklace. He was so flustered after seeing her, he must not have noticed. Uh oh.

"I-I don't have it." He flinched.

"What do you mean you don't have it!?" she yelled, grabbing his collar and looking down his shirt in disbelief.

"H-Hey! Get off me!" he exclaimed, pushing her off. "Arturia must have broken it when she grabbed me. I'll go get it tomorrow."

"That was expensive Shirou! Not to mention, the only thing we had to summon Archer!" She sighed in annoyance. Her father had given her that! Now what? "Nevermind. I'll find something else." Rin lowered her head and walked further into the room, plopping down next to a couple boxes and starting to look through them. Shirou felt bad about losing it—she had saved him with it, and he didn't even have the presence of mind to notice it missing before now. He'd have to try and make it up to her.

Into the evening, Rin and Shirou sat in the study, searching box after dusty box of her father's artifacts, trying to find something they could use as a catalyst to summon their loved ones again. Rin hadn't said a word since Shirou announced that his necklace was gone, and he was feeling worse and worse as the silence progressed.

"If you're right, the chances of you summoning her are pretty slim. Is she already someone's Servant?" Rin asked out of the blue, reading through a book. This took Shirou by surprise. She had been thinking about Arturia?

"She didn't seem to recognize me at all. Then again, she is good at hiding things and she could definitely see me before I could see her," he muttered, rubbing his head from the memory of it bashing off the concrete. "And Oyabun knew who she was, like she was really this guys daughter."

"Maybe this guy is the Master," she answered, setting the book aside and looking through a box, "and is using her being his daughter as an excuse."

"I don't know any more," he muttered, looking through things again. "I don't get her, this war—any of it." He ran his hands through his hair in annoyance. "Grail War, Grail War, Grail War..! Argh! Too much info!" Shirou blurted out, completely annoyed at the situations since yesterday. "What the heck is going on!?"

"You're silly, Onii-chan!" Ilya exclaimed while she giggled from the doorway. "It's just a Grail war!" She entered the room and found a chair to sit on, while she ate a sandwich she had made in the kitchen. She was so glad Rin had called ahead and got food in the house before they arrived.

"Just a—Ilya, this isn't good!"Shirou whined. "We've barely recovered from the last one!"

"Don't be so worrisome! Someone probably just forced a Grail War, No problem!"

"No prob—Tohsaka! Help here!"

"She's right in one aspect: Someone probably forced a war. What we don't know, is who, how and why. From what I can observe, the best thing we can do is summon Servants to prevent anyone from getting the Grail, then figure out everything else," Shirou just sighed. There was no talking to these girls. "Maybe Saber wasn't strong enough to destroy the Grail—just damage it," Rin theorized.

"We ordered her to destroy it," Shirou piped in. "My last command seal. Weren't you the one that said that they created miracles? That a Servant could do anything if ordered with a command seal?"

"Shirou," Rin started. "None of this makes any sense, and none of this is playing by the rules. The last Grail War didn't make any sense either, because it happened only 10 years after the 4th. Something is obviously wrong with the Grail Wars. We can't assume anything is going to work the way it should." Shirou stayed quiet and just continued to look half heartedly through the boxes.

"What do you think it could have been, Ilya?" Rin asked from the floor.

"There could be more catalysts than you think," she started, tapping her chin. "A piece of a previously shattered Grail nursed to a semi-complete one, an imposter Grail—"

"Ilya! You're a genius!" Rin snapped her fingers, stood up and bolted over to the closet. "I know how to get Archer!" she exclaimed happily, rummaging through the contents.

"These are artifacts and trinkets my Father and I collected when I was little," she started, walking back over toward Shirou and Ilya with an old cardboard box. "He said that they were fakes or useless, but let me keep them, because I seemed so fascinated with them." She sat down and opened the box. Inside were dozens of old looking, cracked gems, papers and rusty trinkets. Among them, was golden thread wrapped around a piece of wood. "This string was found in Greece by my Father and me when I was little. One of the other archaeologists and I were sure that it was from the Legendary Golden Fleece, but there was no evidence, so Father wrote it off as just some thread. I couldn't help but think there was something to it though—that it was from the Golden Fleece."

"What does that have to do with Archer?" he questioned.

"There are the faintest hints of Magic on it and if it's a fake item that I honestly thought was from a hero from history, I might be able to summon _The Faker: EMIYA Archer_."

"And if it's real?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Shirou. It's just some thread on a stupid wooden spool." She waved off. "Now, let's find something for you."

"I'm no good at this! I don't even know where to—" Shirou cut himself off as a jewelled Celtic cross across the room caught his eye. The cross seemed to glow against the wall, before everything else around it fell away into blackness.

"_I am not certain that your faith in me is justified,_" Shirou heard Arturia's voice rang through his head. A flash of her holding the red stone from the middle of the cross in her hand appeared before his eyes, "_However I trust your judgement. I suppose, now I belong to England_."

"Shirou!" He was shaken from his stupor. Surprised, he found himself across the room, holding the very cross he had seen his beloved King holding. "Are you ok?"

"Fine," he muttered. He looked at the cross again. "I'm going to use this. I saw her holding it." Rin didn't say anything, but nodded.

"Alright," she started after a minute, "Let's summon our Heroes."

"It isn't hard Shirou!" Rin growled, slapping the fading red-head. "Haven't you learned anything in a year!?"

"Hey! You had a lifetime to learn this, Rin. And I don't know whether or not you know this, but I've had a year of descent training!" Shirou was not much of a Magus—he knew it. He was having a rough time getting the summoning circle perfect like Rin's, and she refused to let him use anything less.

The moon was high in the sky, being almost 11. Rin insisted she would summon at midnight with or without Shirou, because her powers were strongest then, and she insisted on having the best Servant she could muster.

They had just spent the last hour and a half, arguing over how poor Shirou was at summoning. Shirou was just hoping to get it over with before morning when Ilya woke up so he could make her breakfast.

"It's not hard!" she repeated, although calmer. She took a deep breath and went through the steps with him again. It actually was fairly difficult to make proper summoning circles, but telling Shirou things were easy in the past had helped him get it faster. It was his stupid pride and determination.

It had taken a lot arguing and making up, but they finally finished making two perfect summoning circles in Rin's enormous backyard. Luckily, it wasn't quite midnight—but it was close.

"Why didn't we do this in the house again?" he asked, putting his raincoat over the girl's shoulders as it began to drizzle.

"It's just easier outside," she muttered, remembering when she tried to summon Archer and he destroyed her front room. She snuggled into the jacket and breathed deeply before fishing through her pockets.

"Whatever you say." He waved it off.

"Stand in your circle and read this," she stuffed a piece of paper into his hand with a spell written on it. "It's a proper summoning spell." He shrugged and walked over to his seal, waiting for Rin to do the same. Rin closed her eyes and reached out her hand toward Shirou. Shirou held his hand out too, but looked down at the paper she had given him.

After a minute, every clock in Rin's house went off, sounding loudly, even from outside. They began to chant in unison.

"_I hereby propose: Thou shalt come under my command, and thy sword shall control my fate._" The wind picked up a bit beneath their feet and their Command Seals began to glow a dark red on their hands. "_Abiding by the summons of the Holy Grail, if thou dost accede to this will and reason, answer me_." The summoning circles began to glow the same color as their hands, as the world around them darkened, and the wind continued to pick up. "_I hereby swear I am all that is good in the eternal world. I am the disposer of evil in the eternal world. Thou, clad with the Great Trinity, come forth from the circle of constraint—_" Rins eyes shot open as the wind that had been kicking around their feet shot straight upward. The copy of the seal below them rose up, as if scanning their hopes, dreams, aspirations and summoning catalysts to summon the perfect match. "_Guardian of the Heavens!_"

The copies of the summoning circles moved and from the ground beneath spell, two heroic figures rose from the ground in shimmering lights and sparks of electricity, who quickly fell into battle stances. One was dressed completely in robes of white and silver. Their hood covered their face, and a wooden staff with a ball of blue light on the top was pointed at the new Servant in front of it.

The second was clearly a Saber. He was dressed in what appeared to be leather Spartan armour, lined with gold. The rest of his apparently huge armour was hidden by a shimmering golden cape that covered his shoulders and arms from his battle stance. He had one sandal tied up his leg and a golden helm with ram horns covering his head and hiding his face. His sword was poised to attack and his shield was covering the rest his body.

"Wait! No! Stop it!" Shirou called. The one in robes immediately stood up, dropping the staff to their side and the blue ball of light disappearing.

"As you wish, Master Shirou," she answered in a thick Scottish accent, surprising the red head greatly.

"How-How did you know my name?" he asked, flabbergasted.

"I apologize, Master. Please, tell me your name." She got down on one knee, and bowed to the completely confused Shirou.

"N-No. I'm... I'm Shirou, but... how did you...?"

The Servant stood up, and turned to the Saber, still poised to attack her. "Are you a threat, Saber?" she asked, tilting her head to the side, but her face was still hidden by her cloak.

"Only if that be my Masters wish," he answered curtly. His deep voice was thick with an accent Shirou couldn't identify, but assumed to be Greek. Briefly, he turned to Rin, as if knowing her to be his Master.

"She and her Master are our allies, Saber. Stand down," Rin encouraged. "Then follow me, we have to talk." She turned to Shirou and then nodded to the Servant in front of him. "We'll be in my room if you need something, Emiya." She turned and left, her Saber glanced back at them once before following her into the house.

"So... what do I call you? Who are you?" Shirou asked, once he was sure Tohsaka was out of hearing range.

"I am what you would call a Caster Servant, Master," she started, bowing. "And I am known in your history, as the Mighty Magician: Merlin of King Arthurs Round Table." She gracefully took her hood off and shook her curly red hair loose from the static of her hood, staring at him with vibrant green eyes.

"You're... Merlin?" Shirou asked, completely taken back at the beauty of the woman. "At least I got someone from her court—" He paused, as if a thought had just popped into his head. "I always thought you were an old man!"

She giggled, embarrassed at his point. "I _was_... it seemed more likely that King Arthur would listen to an aged, experienced wizard, then the form you see before you. I may choose my form, for any situation I may need."

"Saber," Rin started, offering him to sit beside her on her bed. "Who are you?" Being blunt had rarely failed her before, and she figured that now was one of the times that it wouldn't hurt.

"Jason of the Argonauts, Milady," he answered, not sitting beside her. Rin rolled her eyes. So that stupid thread really was from the Golden Fleece. A younger her would love to rub that in her father's face, but right now, it didn't make her feel any better. The one time she had hoped she was wrong about something... On the other hand, she had finally achieved her goal of summoning a Saber. "May I inquire what reason you have for summoning me?"

"At current, our job is as a normal pair—to prevent another from getting the Grail." She looked out the window and could see Ilya running out into Shirou's arms, presumably blabbering on about his Red-headed Servant.

Rin watched from the window by her bed as the gorgeous Scottish girl smiled at Ilya and spoke quietly with her new Master. Why did Shirou always summon gorgeous European girls? Not that she was jealous—luckily for him.

"Ah, so you wish for the Grails power?" he responded boredly, breaking her from her thoughts.

"No," she answered quickly, "never for its power; to prevent anyone else from being cursed by it." Jason seemed taken aback.

"Well then..." he trailed off. "I do not know if I can agree to that." Angrily, Tohsaka stood up and stomped up in front of him. He wasn't expecting her hand to fly across his cheek.

"Don't make me use these," she demanded darkly, showing her command seals. "This is what you will do. If you insist on using the Grail for your own time, that is your choice, but I _will_ make you defend that Grail from others, here." Jason rubbed his reddening cheek, looking down with astonished blue eyes.

'_I like a woman whom is opinionated and strong, but never has one hit me!_' he thought. '_This should be fun..._'

"As you wish, Milady," he replied with a goofy grin spreading across his face.

"What's so funny?" she demanded, not over her anger.

"Oh, um," he coughed to clear his throat. "Nothing, Milady; nothing at all."

"I'm sorry I don't trust the church!" Shirou argued.

"You are just going to have to get over it," she answered. They were walking through the streets of the rainy city. Despite their arguing, Shirou continued to make sure that Rin and his tiny sister were dry under his umbrella. Their new Servants walked behind them, hidden to the humans but visible to each other, watching how their Masters interacted.

"So they are the first winners of the Holy Grail, huh?" Jason asked, looking around the city.

"King Arthur and Master Shirou," she corrected, "with the help of Tohsaka Rin and Archer."

"How do you know?" Jason asked skeptically.

"I read minds," she said deadpanned. Jason couldn't see her face under her hood, but she was smirking a bit.

"Really?" he asked in shock.

"No," she scoffed with a little humor in her voice. Jason just stared at her, relieved that she couldn't read minds – if she wasn't lying about that.

"So, Caster," Jason asked after an awkward silence. "What are you hoping to get out of the Grail?" Merlin stayed quiet under her hood. "I get it, you aren't talkative."

"I do not mean to seem rude," she tried to reassure. "My Master told me that you are my ally, but not to what extent." He nodded.

"I get it," he agreed. "My Lady told me to trust your Master as if he was mine, but perhaps yours was not as specific." Merlin looked to the other servant from under her hood, then back to her Master.

"Ugh, Kotomine Church," Shirou suddenly announced, walking up the steps and through the big black doors. As the 3 humans entered the church, Shirou buckled over.

"Master!" Caster ran through the door and over to him and kneeled beside him, suddenly not in her spirit form. "Are you ok?"

"He gets barrier-sick," Rin announced, holding Ilya behind her, and in front of Jason who walked into the church and out of his spirit form as well.

"There will be no hidden heroes in this church." Everyone looked up, into the church to the white haired girl beside the pedestal. "If I knew you were on your way, I would have warned you of that. I hope you are allies, because I won't allow fighting here, either."

"Who are you?" Rin asked, taking in the Church uniform and cross around her neck, and assumed that she took over after Kirei.

"Caren Hortensia, the Priestess of this Church." She curtsied and walked over to help Shirou into a pew. "You are among the new Masters?"

"I guess," Shirou muttered, finally getting a hold of himself. "You're the girl from the Graveyard!" she smiled and nodded. "That is a strong barrier."

"It has to be," she agreed. "It's strong enough to reveal any Servant—even Assassins or Archers."

"Well, it appears that you two are the last to summon, so the Grail War can officially begin." She turned to Ilya who was still beside Saber. "You aren't a Master... Why are you here?"

"I'm Ilyasviel von Einzbern," Caren's eyes widened slightly.

"How are you alive?" she asked bluntly, angering Shirou.

"Back off!" Shirou growled. He knew Ilya was sick, but Rin had slowed it down and given her time.

"_Are you sure this'll save her?" Shirou asked, watching Rin sit in the middle of the doujo with the smaller young girl. Rin had dozens of gems laying around them. She had just finished showing the girl how to store Prana in them, and was now watching her to make sure that she did it right herself._

"_No," she muttered. "It won't. I don't think there are enough gems in the world to stop her from eventually overflowing, but..." Rin trailed off and stood up. "The more she gets rid of, the longer she'll last."Ilya successfully filled a gem and yawned. It took a lot out of her—thankfully, but it made her tired. Shirou kissed her head and sent her off to bed._

"_How long is this gonna give her?"_

"_Once a week for the next year... maybe a couple extra months? But the longer she's here, the more prana she's going to make from her own circuits, let alone the Servants energy she gathered when they went back to the Throne of Heroes. She needs to keep a lot to sustain her body, but too much is going to overflow. This isn't a fix Shirou, it's a treatment—and not a great one."_

"_What can I do?" he asked, surprising her. _

"_Come to England with me," she started. "The Clock Tower has more than enough resources for us to find a way to save her."_

"_I'd have to leave and go to England?" he questioned. _

"_It's the only way I can think of..."_

"I didn't mean to offend you, I was just curious." Caren broke him out of his memory, and he accepted the apology wearily.

"If we're the last to summon, that means that we're free to be attacked now," Rin stated. "Thank you for the information." She then shooed them all out.

"This is boring!" Alex muttered, sitting outside the Tohsaka's House barrier, while his Rider poked at the barrier with his spear, not trying to get through. They had followed them home from the Church. After staking them out until just after dark, they were now just tapping their alarm wire to get their attention.

"You think this is wise? There are two of them. Shouldn't we... ambush them... or something?" he asked uncertainly. He knew that his Master was unorthodox, but he didn't understand his logic.

"We'll do that next time... I wanna fight Shirou! Sorry Rider!" Rider rolled his eyes and shrugged before going back to poking the barrier.

"Ready?" Rider asked, stepping away from the barrier. Alex looked around Riders feet, to see Shirou and Rin walk out with their Servants.

"Well... I am now." He stood up and cracked his neck, trying to be prepared for anything. He seen Riders shoulder fall slightly, and heard him mutter under his breath before getting ready for an attack. He stocked it up to nerves. "Any strategy?"

"Yes: Don't get hit by his sword," he replied as if it was obvious.

"Thanks for the input..." Alex muttered darkly. His Servants' sarcasm was almost as bad as his own.

"Give up your Command Seals and we don't have fight," Shirou said as he walked in front of everyone, purposely putting himself in front of Rin and Caster. Alex just put his hand in front of his face, showing his Command Seals.

"I don't think so…now watch this!" From his hand, a red light erupted from his hand and a lance appeared.

"Projection Magic!" Shirou gasped, surprised by the sudden appearance of the weapon.

"I told you when I taught you, that it was common magic, Shirou!" Rin sighed, clenching her hand with the command seals. Jason nodded and moved up beside Shirou. "Let me try out Saber."

"Oh? Saber isn't yours?"Alex asked, sounding suddenly downhearted. "Well... That sucks. I guess we're going after Tohsaka first. "

"You want me to sit back!?" Shirou exclaimed almost angrily. "Haven't you learned, that I don't do that!?"

"Be quiet, Shirou," Tohsaka muttered, holding a gem in front of her as Saber drew his sword, awaiting his Masters orders.

"Rider! Go after him!"

Rider burst forward with incredible speed, taking Tohsaka off guard, but Saber seemed unaffected. Their weapons collided with a violent clash. Before Tohsaka knew what had even happened, Sabers golden cape was in front of her face.

"Move, Milady," he ground out, before pushing Rider away with his golden sword and running toward him.

Meanwhile, Alex took the distraction created by Rider and Saber, to launch himself toward Shirou.

"Master!" Caster called, raising her arms to form a quick barrier around Shirou. She hadn't been distracted, her only worry about Shirou, and seen him coming. Alex flung backwards, but managed to stay on his feet.

"Thanks, Caster," Shirou said gratefully, swinging his arms down as the swords he had gotten from Archer formed in his hands and poised to attack him. "You can put it down now. I can handle him." Under her hood, Merlin nodded and let the barrier down.

Mimicking Alex' earlier movements, he launched forward, and slashed at the boy, repeatedly bringing his swords from all angles, trying to take him off guard. Alex managed to block all but Shirou's final strike, which slashed him across the arm.

Alex glanced down at his arm, before grinning and looking at Shirou with a mischievous glint in his eyes, before positioning his lance to attack. "Is that the best you've got? If so... You're going to die~" he mocked. He cracked his neck and wind began to swirl violently around him. He sunk into a battle stance before launching toward Shirou and Caster.

"So, what are you doing here anyway?" The Servants pulled apart, before clashing together again.

"Obviously: dancing with you." Another spark of clashing metal erupted from their weapons.

"And such beautiful dancing it is." Saber pushed Rider away before attacking him again.

"You?" Rider defended with his lance before spinning around the larger Servant and trying to stab him in the back. Saber quickly turned and blocked the lance with his shield.

"I died an honourable death, and now I wish to see Mount Olympus." Saber scoffed and brought his Sword down toward Rider.

"Really? Honorable?" Saber scoffed. Rider jumped back and launched again.

"Better than you!" Rider muttered angrily when they collided yet again.

"Hm?"

"I heard you angered your witch and you died alone when the boat fell on you," Rider grinned and almost stabbed the golden clad fighter, but he hopped out of the way.

"Yes, well I heard that you fell from the heavens, breaking your legs and dying like a dog," Saber mocked back, stabbing at the other Servant.

"... That was just mean, Ja—Saber." While their weapons were connected, their faces almost touched. Saber glared at him, almost as if to say: "_Don't know my name, Fool!_"

"I am '_trying to kill you_', how nice should I be?" Saber brought his shield between them and slammed it into Rider, pushing him back several feet.

"True."

Shirou braced against the gust of slicing wind Alex sent at him from his Javelin and slid back, bracing himself against the ground, and wiping the blood from his lip. '_Even when the enemy isn't hitting me, I get slaughtered... ugh._'

"Having fun yet?" Alex asked, grinning like an idiot. Mentally, he was holding himself back from fan-boy-ing... that would be... awkward.

"Caster!" Tohsaka whispered angrily. "Why aren't you fighting!?"

"Master has not requested my assistance."

"You're his Servant! You should be fighting instead of him to start with!" She paused, before fading away. "Damned Servants." She turned to Saber and Rider fighting and barked another command.

"Master, allow me to assist you?" she asked from behind him, suddenly standing right behind him and whispering in his ear, making a chill go up and down his spine. "For a short amount of time, I am able to give you the powers of a Servant. For now, however, I only have enough for simple classes. Assassin, Rider or perhaps Archer..?"

"For how long?" he asked back.

"As long as our Mana can last."

"Archer. Make it fast, he's coming again."

"Your wish is my command, _Chosen One_." Merlin's eye glowed green from under her hood. She moved back, mumbling a celtic spell under her breath, before raising her staff above her head and whipping it toward Shirou.

While Shirou had been distracted, Alex had summoned another lance and had it stabbed into the ground. Without much warning, he threw his first one, before spinning around and grabbing the other (to keep momentum going) and tossing that one also. Deadly wind spun around them, powering them up. A sword materialized and Alex charged again.

A small light flashed before Shirou's eyes, and everything seemed to slow down. He could clearly see the lances coming at his head, and willed that he could move fast enough to dodge them. In his head, he celebrated as his reflexes took over and he was already out of their harm.

Alex flew past him, surprised that he had suddenly disappeared, before crying in pain as Shirou sliced across his side. To follow up, Shirou dropped his swords and flung his body into his target, sending him flying against the ground between the heavily panting Saber and Rider.

"O-ow," Alex moaned. "Ah... Rider? Time to go," he grunted.

"Hehe. Who's regretting this now?" The silver clad fighter mocked, picking him up and wiping his lip.

"Shut up, Horse-breath. Let's just get out of here," He glared at him, although he couldn't move. "Have fun with Saber!"

"Sehen Sie, dass wir verschwinden!" They were gone before Shirou could blink.

"Okay..?" Tohsaka muttered.

* * *

If anyone is still unsure about Alex' projections, keep reading, it'll be explained.

I'd appreciate reviews guys!

Have a good day/night wherever you are!


	3. Roles

Sorry this took so long to upload! My Boyfriend (The super-Type/Mooner) was too busy reading other fanfiction to read mine. :(  
xD  
So, the editing is a little rushed because I wanted to get it up tonight. We've been working on it since 9:00 pm and it's *Checks* 12:10 am. Usually I would do another read after so many alterations, but I think it's ok. If not, tell me and I'll fix it!

But anyway, without further ado-

* * *

**Chapter Three: Roles**

* * *

"Morning Sakura!" Shirou muttered sleepily, rubbing the drowsiness out of his eyes and walking into the living room. The smell of fish is what had roused him up this morning. With Alex knowing where Rin lived, they had decided to go back to his place. If there was no advantage to her house, Rin preferred Shirou's smaller one. Shirou sat down and rubbed Ilya's head fondly. She looked a little tired this morning.

"Morning, Shirou," she answered happily from the table, setting up his breakfast. "How are you this morning?" Shirou thought for a second, before answering cheerily that he was fine. He ran his tongue over the inside of his lip and sighed mentally. His lip wasn't cut anymore. He rubbed his arm as if he was scratching it and noted that the major cut from Alex was gone as well. Good. "I hope you're hungry! I made lots!"

"Thank you, Sakura," Shirou answered, just as Rin walked into the room and thanked her also. Sakura stared at her for a moment before welcoming Rin back and getting up to set another plate.

"Good _Morning_ everyone!" Jason said, suddenly, marching into the room with one of Shirou's old uniforms. "When are we going to—oh, Hi!" He cut himself off when he seen Sakura standing dumbfounded in front of him. "Who is this _gorgeous _young girl?" he asked. She blushed darkly and he mentally flinched, looking at the ceiling as if Medea would strike him down at any moment.

"That's Sakura and keep your eyes off her," Rin threatened, glaring at the Servant. She didn't have any right to be protective of Sakura after she became a Matou, but she couldn't help it. He chuckled nervously and put his hands up defensively, showing that he wasn't touching her.

'_Just as scary..._' he thought to himself.

"And why are you dressed like that?" Rin asked, finally noticing what he was wearing. He walked past them and grabbed a drink out of the fridge.

"It was here," he muttered, shrugging and looking out the window.

"Master... something smells delicious!" Caster walked into the room, wearing one of Tohsaka's nightgowns. She was rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and her curly hair was dishevelled and fuzzy and, even to Sakura, looked incredibly sexy. Worst off: She came from Shirou's room.

"Shirou," she asked, close tears. "W-w-w-w-who is she?" Sakura backed toward the door a bit, taken aback by the gorgeous foreign girl in her crush's house.

"She's, ah, um, she's ah—"

"A friend from England," Rin interjected, as if it was normal. "Why?"

"Ah, oh..." she muttered sadly and feigned looking at a clock. "I've ah... got to go to school." She turned and bolted out of the room, leaving her book bag behind.

"Sakura!" Shirou called out, but she was already gone. She had left 30 minutes earlier than usual. "Ugh..."

"Did I do something wrong, Master?"He shook his head dejectedly.

"Nothing, Caster."

She walked by Shirou and Rin, grabbing a piece of fish off the table and setting it on a small plate as she went. She stopped by the front door, watching the young girl run down the street.

"Does she need this?" she asked, picking at the fish with her fingers and gesturing toward the bag on the floor.

"We'll take it to her after we finish eating," Rin answered. "And _why_ did you two come out like that?" Merlin just ignored her, looking at Shirou. He seemed distressed about how that girl had left.

"It won't happen again," she answered, quietly. The Caster pair was both ignoring Rin chastising Saber and Saber half-heartedly defending himself in the background.

"I wanna fit in!" Jason said with a shrug. "What better way to keep people away, than having a couple of guys walking with you all the time?"

"I don't need to be defended that way, Saber," Rin started, visibly irritated by that comment. "That being said, very few people are stupid enough to hit on me." He shrugged and faded out.

"Are you sure that Sakura's alright, Tohsaka?" He had Sakura's bag slung over his shoulder as they walked toward the school. Caster was left at home with Ilya encase she needed anything. She was very tired that morning and Shirou didn't want to make her walk.

"She's fine, Emiya," Rin assured for the twelfth time.

"If you say so..."

"Yes! I say so!"

"No need to yell..." A vein visibly pulsed on her head, but she tried to kill her anger. She was too close to school to dispose of the body. Behind her in Spirit form, Jason was biting back as much of his mirth as possible. He had to admit, his Master was adorable when she was angry.

"Hi Shirou!" They turned to the voice calling to them, and clenched their fists, hoping he wouldn't attack them with so many innocents around. "Oh, you too Tohsaka," he added as an afterthought.

"Can we do this somewhere else?" Alex gave them an incredulous look. "What are you..? Oh! Heh, no, I'm not going to attack you!" he answered when he had finally figured out what they meant. "Too many people could get hurt, 'sides... I still hurt from last night," he added offhandedly. "Oh, and if you're barrier-sensitive, hold your breath." With that he ran into the school.

"Wait... what?" Shirou asked out loud. Rin was ignoring him however and already walking onto school grounds. Shirou tried to follow her into the school, and as soon as he passed the gate he felt extremely sick.

"A barrier..."he said after the sick feeling passed. The smell was nauseating to start, but he got used to it after a minute. He looked towards Rin but she didn't even seem affected by it.

"Didn't he say that?" Rin asked. Shirou rolled his eyes but nodded. "Now wait here," she grabbed Sakura's bag and took off toward the Archery stable. She was hoping that she would be able to do something to calm her down, without giving her any ideas about Shirou or that there was a Grail War.

"Where are you going!?" he asked as she ran off. She just called back over her shoulder that she'd be back. Shirou sighed and walked into the school, muttering about how confusing girls were. He figured he'd go see some of his teachers.

* * *

"Why… why does he have _girls_ in his room all the time!?" Sakura muttered to herself.

She was doing busy work of cleaning the already spotless bows, reorganizing the already organized arrows, trying to get her mind off the fact that she had seen a very scantily clad, cute, exotic girl coming from her loves bedroom. She slammed her foot angrily into the cabinet, shaking the materials.

"Saber, Rin, that red-head..." She knew she didn't have the right to be jealous, but she couldn't help it!

"_It's all Rin's fault!_" Sakura stared ahead, scared in place by the malicious voice in her head. That same voice brought on by the magic flowing through her circuits—"_She keeps bringing these girls in! It's another Tohsaka trying to hurt you!_" Sakura shook her head and shuffled the bows around, straightening them again. She knew that Saber probably had very little to do with Rin; it wasn't her fault that Shirou was a Master in the last war, she didn't make him summon Saber. This red-head though—

She shook her head, violently trying to get those thoughts from her mind.

"But why can't Shirou-senpai just figure it out..?" she muttered hopelessly. She tried as hard as she could to show him what a good wife she would be—that she could cook and clean and even look after Ilya—but it never seemed to get through his _thick head_.

She didn't get an answer from the empty room so she sighed and closed the doors, turning to leave when a flash of light invaded the room, blinding her for a few valuable seconds. When she opened them again, she was pinned to one of the walls. She flinched away when an intimidating white and grey helmet with gold details and grey, spiral, ram like horns coming from either side, tried to look through her soul with glowing red lights through the facemask.

"We've made a Summoning Circle for you, Sakura Matou-sama," a mysterious voice echoed through the room. She tried to look around the suit of armor hovering dangerously over top of her. She knew it wasn't him speaking—the voice didn't fit him.

"_Kill them!_" A familiar voice yelled angrily from the far corners of her mind and continued to echo for what seemed like an eternity. "You can get off her, Servant. I doubt she'll attack us."

Sakura rubbed her arms after the red and white clad Servant stepped away from her, and back beside his master.

"_Do it! Kill them!_"

"Who... why would you make a Summoning circle for me? I lost my servant to... Shinji a year ago," she responded sadly, fighting back the memory of the magicless Matou. "The war was over a year ago."

"A year ago is in the past," he paused for a second, realizing what he said, "obviously," he continued. "A new Holy Grail War is beginning, and you have the chance to summon your Rider again, without the chance of your... _brother_, taking her." Sakura bit her lip.

Every fiber of her physical being was telling her to get away from these people; to run fast and run far, but two pieces of her told her to stay. The malicious voice in the back of her head and the curious Magus parts of her both wanted to hear this strange pair out.

"_Do it!_"the voice in the back of her head shouted almost painfully in her ears—this time trying to convince her to work with them. It seemed to forget that they had just assaulted her. She tried to ignore it. Although she had wanted nothing more than to have the chance to work with Rider, why would these people help her?

"Still... why? I've never met you."

"_Who cares!? Rider..._"

"My name is Xaiolan, I'm a part of a group... you could say, we are... enforcers and fixers of justice. Besides, don't you know about the Grail?"

"I... didn't have a Servant to tell me..." she said shyly.

"It will grant you any wish you want!" he informed. "Anything," he repeated a little darker.

"A, Anything?" she thought out loud. "Shirou-senpai..?"

"Oh?" The mysterious man grinned a little and tried to hide it with his hand. "Why, yes. It could make him love you."

"_The power of the Grail! Do it!_" the voice demanded. Sakura argued with the black spot in her mind, whispering to herself despite the other people not being able to hear the voice in her head.

"But I'm tainted!"

"_It'll fix that_!"

"My body's been corrupted!"

"_It'll fix it!_"

"Without them, he wouldn't notice me—"

"_Do it or I will..!_" The voice finally threatened, startling her even more. Mentally, Sakura fought against it, stressing that she would do it as long as the darker half of her stayed out of it. She didn't want anyone hurt in the process. The voice just kept repeating "_Do it or let me!_" again and again, before Sakura couldn't take it anymore.

Her eyes began to glow an angry red and black lines started to run across her pale skin from under her clothes, startling even the shadowed Master in the room. "Give it to me." The Master adjusted his glasses nervously, but smirked and nodded.

"Meet me here after your last class. Your summoning circle will be here and awaiting you." Sakura grinned crookedly at the pitch black marks spread darkly up her arm.

"_Mine..._"

* * *

Rin walked into the sports yard in the back, knowing that Sakura was probably at the Archery range.

A dangerous flash of light went off, quickly followed by another, sending Rins protective instincts into overdrive and making her break into a sprint.

"Sakura!" she called, throwing the door open. Much to her surprise, Sakura ripped her hands from the closet that the bows were kept in as if they had caught fire. She seemed to have been terrified at Rins outburst. "Are you ok!?" she looked through the room, but seen nothing that could have been of any danger.

"Tohsaka..?" she asked.

"N-Nothing. Class is starting and Emiya wanted me to give you, your bag." Sakura just thanked her politely and walked by, taking her bag as she did. Rin couldn't help but notice the glitter of magic that seemed to follow her from the building.

"Oi! Shirou! Nice you see you back!" A random male classmate called as he entered the room. "You've _got_ to meet someone!" Shirou protested as the classmate dragged him over to the group of gossiping guys.

"What is _wrong_?" he asked, nursing his shoulder. He had grabbed the exact same place where Alex had cut with his lance the night before. Apparently it was a little tender.

"Nothing is wrong— why do you always assume something is wrong?" He turned to all his guy friends, trying to figure out when they were talking about.

Shirou turned to the group of girls, just as they decided to walk away, noticing the blonde hair in the bun, tied with the blue ribbon. He gulped painfully.

"Arturia..." he muttered. "Fancy seeing you here?" he asked nervously. She turned to him warily.

"Oyabun told you I come here," she started. "What do you want?" she asked.

"N-nothing really," he stuttered. Why did she have to look so cute in a school girl's uniform? He felt wrong about thinking that she was attractive. She might not even be his Arthuria!

'_My Arthuria,_' he thought sadly. Even if she _was_ King Arthuria, she wasn't his anymore—and probably an enemy. Damn he missed her.

Seeing her there, something struck him. Why was she actually at school? If she was a Servant, why would she attend school? She could just fade out and appear with her Master when called upon! He was more than half expecting not to see her there. "I'm not in town long, so I decided to come see some friends." After a minute, he noticed she was wearing a chain, reminding him about EMIYA's necklace.

"The other day, when I was over," he rubbed his head as it throbbed at the memory. "Did you happen to find a necklace with a red gem on it?" She narrowed her eyes and grabbed her chest. After a long second, she pulled the charm of her chain out.

"It's yours?" she asked. She covered a suspicious face with a condescending one. "What, you wear girls necklaces?" he blushed, but nodded.

"A friend gave it to me." She shrugged and gave it to him.

"Take it then I guess." She turned away but Shirou just stood there anyway.

"S-Saber—"

"Com'mon Shirou, time for your medication," Alex butted in, pulling Shirou away from her and into the hallway. "Are you stupid?" Shirou's fist suddenly flew at his face, but a green barrier blocked his way. "Rider is right beside me... that doesn't hurt," he muttered. "Little less angry?"

"What are you doing!?"

"There's a Servant outside; Caster here?"

"No..?" he started unsurely. He knew there was a Servant on the grounds—Rin was there.

"You are really bad at this," Alex muttered. "You do know she can fade, right?"

"Not used to it," Shirou lied. He knew he could walk around with Caster, he just left her with his sister encase Alex tried to attack the house.

Alex sighed in annoyance. "Whatever, come on anyway. Where's Tohsaka?"

"Ah..." Shirou started. She hadn't answered him, but besides that, he was still a little wary to trust the man that had attacked them the night before.

Alex face-palmed. "Fine, we'll fight them ourselves..." Shirou noticed a white and silver shimmer beside Alex, and assumed that Rider was anxious to leave. "They're near the roof, com'mon."

* * *

"Any idea who summoned this thing yet, Lancer?"

"Non, Master," she answered. He sighed and turned to the wind, as if the answer was blowing in the breeze. He turned back to the barrier, his tie and trench coat being ripped at by the wind.

"Alright, I've had enough, take it down."

The small blonde nodded her head, and raised her lance to the barrier. Energy flashed through the lance, and she pushed it at the barrier. Just as she was about to slam it into the magic wall, she was intercepted by Rider's lance.

"Well, hello Milady, may I help you?" he said with a smirk, his lance locked violently with hers.

"Removez-vous," she demanded, pushing him away.

"I apologize, Milady, but I do not seem to recall your language."

"Idiot," she muttered, launching at him again.

"Rider... I never thought I'd complain about you being fast," Alex gasped out, breaking onto the roof, panting and holding his side.

'_That is not Rin,_' Shirou thought to himself. He was hoping that whatever Servant Alex had been talking about was Rin so that he wouldn't have to fight. But this huge man with Shaggy black hair amber yellow eyes, was definitely not her. Damn. How fast could Caster get here? '_Not fast enough,_' he thought. "_Not without a Command Seal._"

"I apologize, Master," he answered, pushing the Lancer away again and moving to attack her.

"Who's this?" Shirou asked. "Lancer?"

"Better question," her Master asked. "Who are _you_?" He raised he arm into the air, releasing a glyph into the sky. A blue dome formed around them, but nothing else happened. Taking the distraction of the barrier, Lancer, who had stopped attacking Rider, appeared beside her Master.

"A bounding field... I see how this is going to go," Alex said quietly. "No sound?" he asked. The new Magus nodded. "No lights?" He nodded again. "Should be fun then."

"Who _are_ you?" the yellow eyed Magus demanded again.

"Don't answer that," Alex demanded quickly, putting his hand defensively in front of Shirou. "If he knows who you are, he could attack you at home."

"Shirou Emiya," he answered anyway, stepping forward. "Who are you? What did you just do?"

"What an idiot..." Alex muttered, face-palming.

The man narrowed his eyes viciously. There was a living Emiya?

"It would be bad if some _non-Magus_ saw or heard us. I fixed that from happening," he started. "And why would I be stupid enough to tell you my name?"

"Even the bad guys know not to do that... " He turned to Rider. "Hurry and move it, Rider. Don't let them go after Shirou. And yes: this is permission to use _it_ if you must."

He cracked his neck then stared Lancer straight in the eyes daringly.

"As you wish." He held his lance perpendicular to the ground, and closed his eyes, muttering a spell in Greek. A blazing spiral of fire consumed Rider's lance completely.

With a strong surge of power that left the roof damaged under his feet, he once again launched at Lancer. It surprised Shirou—Rider was moving so fast, he couldn't even see him! He wished he had Casters _Chosen One_ spell, just to watch.

The entire time Rider was preparing his spell, Lancer too, was muttering to herself.

"_Bruit de le Dieu!_" She quickly dodged Rider, as if she had seen him coming. This disturbed him. He should have been faster than her.

Rider launched forward with a burst of speed the made Shirou flinch, but Lancer didn't seem to even move: In fact, she closed her eyes!

The way Rider moved reminded his Master of a machine gun- it was fast and erratic. Lancer barely tried to block his attacks, and she didn't fight back— just blocked.

"Fuck, Rider just hit her!"Alex yelled angrily and at the same time a lance appeared in his hand. Shirou turned to Alex, finally getting a chance to see his weapon without it flying at his chest.

"Trace on."

"What do you think I am doing?" Rider retaliated. He took a breather and launched at her again, their lances clashing in mid air—still, she wouldn't attack.

**Analyzing...**

**...**

**Lance Mystic code designed specifically to increase magic based wind Thaumaturgy. Increases speed of user.**

**...**

**Weapon Stored.**

"Shirou," Alex muttered, focusing his eyes on the two enemies before them. "Summon your swords, I have a plan!" he muttered again.

Shirou nodded and did so, flashing his _Archer Swords_ into existence. "Rider, fall back!" he demanded. Curious, he did so, standing in front of Alex.

He nodded to Rider, trying to get the plan he had told to Shirou across without words. Rider nodded, getting the idea, and the two charged at Lancer.

"Like_ two_ hopeless cases are going to make a difference," her Master muttered. He looked up to wear Shirou had been standing and braced himself, glancing around in contained panic. The Emiya had disappeared! He glanced around, wondering where Shirou had gone, and suddenly felt two sharp pains across his back.

Horrified, Lancer turned to her kneeling Master and moved to attack.

"Master—!"

"Don't do it Lancer! Don't attack!" Shirou wondered why he wouldn't let her attack—she couldn't win the match by defending alone!

"That was cheap you realize." He moved to stand up, ignoring the pain of the two slash marks across his back. "Trying to distract her, and getting two shots on me? You won't live to do it again!" He charged, attempting to punch Shirou with a flaming fist. Shirou quickly dodged and fell back a bit.

"Eh… I missed…" He held his hand above his head and muttered a little spell, before his hand burst into flames. As if holding a hilt, he lifted his hand and a gigantic great sword materialized in fire, as if pulling it from an invisible sheath on his back. No sooner did the red and brown sword appear, it came flying downwards toward his head.

"Crap!" He ran and barrel rolled out of the way. Shirou looked as the red and black haired Master loomed over him, his foot smashed painfully on his ankle. He couldn't move and he was about to be carved like a turkey… with a great sword as tall as he was.

Suddenly he went rigid, his sword fell to the ground above Shirou's head with an angry clang, and he fell forward, painfully crushing Shirou. When Shirou looked at his back, trying to get up, he saw Jason's sword lodged in his lower back.

"Tohsaka..?" Alex muttered, being carried off by Rider. They backed off, letting Lancer try and push back the larger Saber. She really was not a tall servant.

"Master!" she cried fearfully, changing her stance and feverishly stabbing at the Saber.

Finally attacking, although not nearly as fast as before. She seemed almost clumsy against her new target. She managed to push them back to the edge of the school roof, before flashing over to her taller Master.

After she was sure they were far from her Master, she picked him up off of Shirou muttering a spell all the while before vanishing in flames. As the last of the fire flickered away in the wind, the blue barrier around them fell away, leaving only the naturally blue sky and white puffy clouds above them.

"What just happened here?" he asked, completely confused and slightly dazed from having a grown man fall on him.

"Sorry for using you as bait," Alex said, helping Shirou stand. "Nice work keeping him busy though!"

Shirou gathered his bearings, before a very important question entered his mind. When did Rin show up?

"Are you _insane_, Emiya?" Shirou turned toward the door to the roof, where Rin was leaning, tapping her foot. "You don't have a Servant here! Why did you come up here?" She stomped over to him, glaring right into his eyes.

"I was fine—"

"You were not!" she yelled, slapping him across the face with a deafening crack and completely shocking both of the male Magus'. "You were Cannon fodder! You _let yourself be cannon fodder!_ What would you have done if his plan didn't work? What if he just _left you_ here against a _Servant_? Huh?"

"R-Rin..." he hugged her close to him to try and calm her down, but it didn't seem to work. He knew she was worried, but he could take care of himself. Even if Alex _had_ betrayed him, he could take him. She pushed him away, angrily muttering about how stupid and cocky and stupid and asshole-ish and stupid he was before jumping off the side of the school, knowing that Jason was carrying her.

"Sorry man..." Alex said, rubbing his head.

"It's alright..." he went to take a step and remember that his ankle was broken. He sighed and slumped to the floor. He was not having a good morning.

"I'll stay with you for a while," Alex sat beside him. "The bell rang a while ago—there's no way I'll get into class." Shirou still seemed a little hesitant. "I know I attacked you, but at the very least, I won't do it today."

"You did it before," he reminded.

"I know," he started. "But there was no one around. We're at a school with my friends. I wouldn't hurt them." He paused and stood up again. "Do you need help getting home?"

"No," he answered quickly. "I'll be good to go in a little while." He ran his hands over his ankle for a while, pretending to be healing it himself, knowing full-well that it was Avalon healing him.

* * *

"Rin?" Shirou asked, walking in the door. It was almost noon before Shirou even thought about going home. He decided that giving her time to cool off would definitely be better for his health. He got home just as Ilya seemed to be sitting down to eat.

"She's in your room," Ilya said from the living room floor, drinking tea. "What did you do, Shirou-nii?"

He sighed and looked down the hall, wondering if he should give her space or not. She was pretty mad when she left. "Fought a Servant without Caster." On cue, Caster walked out in a green sundress with a white blouse under it. She seen Shirou sitting at the table with his sister and shook her head.

"You know you can call me, right?" she muttered.

"Not without using a Command Seal—Rin was around so I—"

"Master," she started patiently. "What am I?" He just started at her stupidly.

"Ah... Merlin?" She sighed and shook her head.

"What am I, not who am I."

"Ah... Caster?"

"Yes," she started, hoping he would get her point. She sighed again when he continued to look dumbfounded. "I am a Caster Class—A Magician in life," she continued. "I can teleport without Command Seals, Master," she finally elaborated. A dawning look crossed Shirous' face and he looked toward his bedroom. No wonder Rin got angry... "Just call for me next time, please?"

"You didn't tell me that," he pointed out. Merlin seemed to scan her memories for a moment before shrugging.

"I assumed you knew Magicians could teleport," she answered, sitting with Ilya.

"I have next to zero magic training," Shirou started. "I'm good at what I do, but everything else..." he trailed off. "I can make any sword known to Mankind, but I'm lucky if I can recollect who the Type's are." Merlin rose an eyebrow but just nodded in understanding.

He nodded back and waited a couple minutes before excusing himself from the room and walking down the hall to his room.

He knocked gently before opening her door. She was asleep on his bed, curled into a pillow with her hair spread around her. She looked so much more peaceful in her sleep than she was when she was awake—even when she wasn't angry. He looked both ways, knowing that he couldn't see her Saber anyway.

He stepped into her room, wondering whether or not he should wake her up to apologize, when he felt the sharp end of a sword on his back.

"Saber..." he muttered. Saber appeared behind him, glaring daggers into the back of Shirou's head.

"You've got some nerve, Kid," he muttered angrily. He twisted his sword a bit, making Shirou try and flinch away. "How do you know that my Master didn't tell me to kill you if you walked in here?"

Despite himself, Shirou scoffed. He knew it was probably detrimental to his health, but he couldn't help it!

"She'd do it herself—she wouldn't waste her breath telling you to do it." Saber smiled a bit, knowing Shirou couldn't see him. Rin certainly did seem like the kind to take manners into her own hands like that. He quickly got serious again, not wanting Shirou to get too comfortable. He had a point to make, and by Zeus he'd make it.

"Some stupid nerve," he growled. "Understand something, Kid," he started. "Any Servant –Even a Caster- is physically 10x as strong as a human. We have more speed in our little toes, more magic in our noses and more strength in our finger nails, than you do in your entire body."

"I'm not going to make Caster—" Shirou started, but Jason twisted his sword again, making him hiss in pain.

"Aren't you listening? _You_ can't _make_ us do anything, brat," he growled. "If you don't like _forcing_ something, don't you use your Command Seals—which isn't you power by the way." He didn't want to make Shirou feel helpless—from what Rin had said, he had the potential to become a Servant himself some day, but if only to make his Master feel better, he wanted to stress that Shirou couldn't stop a Grail War by himself. "Caster is your partner—your equal in this war. You provide power, she uses that power to protect you against other Servants and move toward your mutual goal, and you heal her when she gets hurt. But you are _equals._"

Shirou smirked faintly and walked away from Saber, sitting on his haunches beside his bed where Rin was laying.

"I didn't know I could summon her to me, Rin," he whispered. "You know I suck at this... just bare with me, will you?" He knew he wouldn't get an answer, but smiled at her anyway and moved some of her hair from her face. "I'll try and be more careful next time, but I'm not gonna stop fighting."

"You pissed her off." He swung around to the man that had threatened him a minute ago, still dressed in his school uniform. He made his sword disappear and walked over behind Shirou, making him relax a bit. "Why do you insist on fighting?" he asked curiously, with a bit of clip still in his voice.

"My Father," he started, wondering why Saber cared. "He adopted me. He saved me at the end of the 4th Grail war. I promised myself that I would be like him—that I would save everyone I could— That my life would be worth something. You guys—Servants, are people to me. I hate to ask anyone to fight for my sake, and Caster—"

"—Is a Servant. We aren't fighting _for_ you. We are fighting _with_ you—a team. She fights, you fight. _Together_," he reiterated again.

"I know, I know. Saber-" he paused painfully. "Arturia-Saber tried to bash that into my head too. It's not my nature, but I'm going to try. But I won't let people die this time. I promised."

* * *

"Archer," Arturia was hanging upside down on her bed after school, trying and failing to study from her text book. She gave up and threw it past her head toward a chair in the corner. That Shirou guy was really bothering her. Not only had he shown up the same day she felt a barrier erect around her school, but he also claimed to own the mysterious magic ruby necklace she had found just before summoning her Servant and getting attacked by the strange Berserker duo.

Oyabun had insisted that he was a good kid, but she couldn't help but feel strange around him—like he was trying to force something out of her. She held her stomach at that thought. She felt a tug at her insides whenever she seen him. Her heart raced and her stomach got tied in knots. She hated that feeling.

"Master," Archer answered, phasing into view, sitting in the chair her book was now beside.

"Did that Shirou guy have a Servant with him?" Archer was taken aback a bit, but tried not to show it. He knew it was only a matter of time, after he claimed the necklace his Master had found in her home, before she started asking questions about him. He had cursed him up and down for leaving that necklace lying around in the first place, but he knew there was very little he could do about it now.

"What would make you think a guy like _that_ would be a Master?" he asked, slightly avoiding the conversation. They had come to an understanding during their final confrontation in the last Grail War. Archer did respect him a bit for not only defeating him, but near defeating Gilgamesh as well. That being said, he knew that Shirou was a hopeless Magus and hoped that his younger self had enough luck and brains to stay out of this war.

He could hope spring was eternal too.

"He shows up the same day a barrier is erected and that ruby necklace was his," she started, pulling her torso onto her bed and facing her Servant properly. She held her head from the slight blood rush before continuing. "Did he have a Servant?"

"Not that I saw," he answered. Nobody had ever lived through two Grail Wars – they weren't supposed to be timed like that- so he didn't know if that automatically made Rin and Shirou Masters again.

"So there is the possibility he is," she thought to herself. She waved her hand after a second thought though. "No way would someone be stupid enough to walk around without their Servant during a Grail War— Even someone as hopeless looking as Shirou."

Archer sighed inaudibly.

"We're going to go out tonight," she declared randomly, getting up to actually change out of her school uniform. "I want that barrier gone. I don't know why it's there, but it won't be for long."

* * *

Later in the evening, Rin, Shirou and Ilya were sitting around the table, finishing the supper Shirou and Rin had made. She was still angry when she came out of his room, but she seemed to lighten up after she started helping Shirou cook.

The TV was on, and Rin and Shirou were pretending to watch Anime with Ilya, but something was definitely bothering Shirou.

"We _are_ going after that barrier, right?" he asked randomly, breaking the girls away from the show. Rin straightened up a bit and grabbed her tea cup.

"Of course we are! After we find a cover for being in the school after hours," Rin answered. "We don't go to school, so if anyone caught us, we could hardly have an excuse."

"Merlin," Shirou said out loud, he knew she was behind him. She phased into view to Rin and Ilya. "Can you do mind alterations—?"

"Wait," Rin interrupted. "You're Merlin? Like, Merlin the Magician?" Merlin just turned to her and looked to her Master as if asking if he wanted her to give out her identity. When he didn't object, she pulled her hood down and nodded.

"Not like," she corrected. "I am Merlin of King Arturia's Round Table." She resisted grinning at Rin's shocked face. Behind Rin, Saber's mouth dropped. She would never admit it, but she always loved the looks on people's faces when she surprised them.

To further her point, Merlin stood up and lowered her hood over her face again. A couple pulses of magic came from under her robes and when she removed her hood, they were met with the face of the old magician most people thought of her as. After a second she moaned and crippled a bit, making Shirou leap up to catch her.

"I'm fine, Master." Shirou knew it was Merlin talking, but it was odd hearing the voice of an old English-man, where he thought a girly Scottish voice should come from. She grabbed at her hood, covered her face and the pulses of magic began again. Shirou let her go and stepped back a bit, not knowing what affects her magic might have on him. He instantly regretted it though, as she fell forward. She tried to catch her balance, but couldn't in time and ended up holding herself up inches from the table with an angry _clash_ as the dishes were shocked from their places.

"Too front heavy..." she muttered, just sitting down. She coughed to regain her composure. "I physically change my shape, meaning I feel how I should in each form. Old men have bad backs," she elaborated when she got a worried look from Shirou.

"Merlin's beard..." Rin muttered without thinking, getting a raised eyebrow from Merlin herself. She blushed a bit and pretended to sip her tea.

"That's a useful technique!" Ilya broke in. She hadn't been surprised when Merlin's identity was revealed. She had known almost as long as Shirou who she was, but she had to admit—that was pretty awesome.

"So ah..." Shirou started, trying to remember what they were talking about before Merlin showed off. "Mind alterations?" Merlin just nodded, still amused by Rin and Sabers reactions. "To the school then?" Rin stood up and Saber phased into sight, both nodded.

"Are you ok here, Ilya?" she nodded and yawned.

"I'm going to sleep." She turned off the TV and hugged Shirou, who kissed her head, and walked down the hall to her room.

"Let's go," Shirou declared.

* * *

END

* * *

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Review!

Have a good night wherever you are!


	4. Barriers

Super sorry this took so long! I hope you like it regardless...

* * *

**Chapter Four: Barriers**

* * *

"Same routine as before?" Shirou asked, stretching his muscles out. With their hidden Servants, Shirou and Rin were standing in front of their former school, getting ready to dismantle the barrier of unknown origin before them. Surprisingly, however, Rin didn't seem to be preparing, but staring at the gate to the school with a curious look. She waved her hand through the gate and wiggled her fingers a bit before pulling her hand back.

"Caster," she asked out loud, knowing that she was around even though she couldn't see her.

"It is not here, Master," Caster answered even though Rin couldn't hear her. "There is no bounded field here."

"No barrier?" he muttered curiously. Rin nodded.

"Was it here when you left?" Shirou nodded.

"I almost threw up," he added. Rin scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Maybe Alex took it down?"

"Not me!" he answered from behind them. Rin and Shirou spun around and fell into defensive stances. Saber and Caster did as well, although stayed hidden. Alex walked up beside them, scratching his head. "I was coming to, but I didn't."

"So..." Shirou started after an awkward moment. "Now what?" Alex sighed and looked around. From the end of the street, he could see a couple people walking and cars driving by. He sighed.

"We could fight, but there are people around," he started. Shirou and Rin raised their eyebrows skeptically. Was this person who attacked Shirou and Ilya in broad daylight, in a park, really turning down a fight at twilight? "Nah. If there's no barrier, we're out." Alex started to walk away and then stopped for a moment. "You aren't going to attack me with my back turned are you, Tohsaka?" Rin puffed her cheeks out angrily, stomping her foot. How dare he insinuate that she was that cheap! Alex just smirked and walked down the street, when he got to the corner, he took off into the air in a gust of wind.

"Merlin," Shirou muttered. "Can you go to Ilya?" She didn't say a word, but teleported away. If they weren't going to have to sneak around the school, they wouldn't need Merlin's mind altering spells. Shirou was more concerned with Alex going after Ilya at that point. She had been so tired the last two days; anyone could hurt her without someone there to watch her.

"Come on Shirou!" Rin grabbed his hand and pulled him through the gate of the school and down the path toward the Archery doujo.

"Wha—"

"I just want to check something out." When she was sure he was following, she let him go and lead him over to the door. She bent down and quickly unlocked the door, quietly pushing it open.

Moonlight poured into the room, creating shadows against the objects normally there.

"What are we doing here?" Shirou whispered, although he knew there was no one in the room. He kept looking over his shoulder, half expecting someone to catch them.

"I think this is where the barrier originated," she answered, starting to look through the cabinets. Shirou stayed by the door. He knew that Saber was probably keeping watch, but he did so anyway, if only to keep himself busy. "I thought I felt it here earlier, but there were students here." She lied a little. The only person there had been Sakura, whom she had found rooting around in the closet.

"When were you here?" he asked.

"When I gave Sakura her bag," she said obviously. She rustled around in the closet Sakura had been standing at earlier. She searched for a couple moments, before sliding to her knees in disappointment. Nothing.

Sakura had, had fairly measureable magic as a child. She had to have felt the barrier this morning. Was she taking down the barrier and Rin interrupted her? Did Sakura even remember that Rin had magic ability?

"I guess nothing is left of it. I was hoping there would be a trace we could use to figure out who erected it. No luck."

"We should get out of here then," Shirou said, helping her up and guiding her out of the room.

They walked across the court in silence and started walking the long way home. Shirou was guiding the girl across the streets and down the sidewalks—she wasn't even paying attention. Something was bothering her.

She knew that she had no right to worry about Sakura, but she _should_ be a Magus—that was the reason she had became a Matou to start with. If she was a Magus, there was the possibility that she was a Master.

In the last war, that hopeless, good-for-nothing-wanna-be Magus with _no powers_ had borrowed the Command Seals for Rider. Zouken was not a Master—his body was too frail to do anything but slowly decompose off his barely alive bones. There _were_ no other Matou's. Byakuya and Kariya had both died in the 4th war—not that Byakuya had measurable magic circuits either. That left Sakura. She had been targeted by Medea-Caster _because_ she had magic potential, so it must be decently strong.

All of that being said: What would Rin and Shirou do if Sakura _were_ to be a Master? Would she give her Seals up to Shirou without a fight? Would she want to keep them, but join with Rin and Shirou? Or would they have to—

"Rin!" Shirou exclaimed, grabbing her hand. Her head snapped up in shock and found herself inches away from surprised sea foam colored eyes.

"Master and Servant!" Saber declared from behind her.

"Oh, Hi Arturia!" Shirou said lamely. The sea foam eyes narrowed viciously, making Rin actually see the person in front of her. Blond hair tied in a high ponytail, sun kissed white skin and angry ocean colored eyes.

'_Saber,_' Rin thought to herself, taking in her clothes: a royal blue blouse with the first couple buttons undone, tight, acid-wash jeans and a cropped leather jacket.

"What are you doing here?" the blonde growled, taking Rin out of her stupor.

"Walking," Rin said smugly, cutting off anything Shirou was going to say. "That _is _what sidewalks are for." Arturia blushed angrily.

"Funny," she ground out. "Who _are_ you anyway?" Rin raised an eyebrow before crossing her arms.

"I should be asking you that. You seem to be the one jumping to radical conclusions."

"What are you talking about?" Arturia barked.

"We're walking down a sidewalk in the city we grew up in, and you _demand_ to know what we're doing like you own it—or _assume_ that we're doing something wrong." The blonde seemed shocked—either that Rin had challenged her or that they had grown up there. Shirou didn't know which. But in that split second, she almost looked like his Saber again.

Arturia opened her mouth to say something snooty, but was cut off by a drunken yell from behind them. Arturia rolled her eyes and stepped away from Rin.

"Great..." she muttered. A tall, obviously intoxicated man half stumbled over to them, passing Rin and Shirou by and slinging his arm over Arturia.

"I thought you wanted to do something tonight," he drawled out.

"Not with you like this," she muttered, shrinking away from him.

"Excuse me, Sir." Rin grabbed Shirou's arm as he stepped forward. Arturia stared at him, surprised for a moment. "It looks like she doesn't want you touching her."

"What the hell would you know?" he cried out, letting go of the blonde and grabbing the front of Shirou's shirt. Shirou stared defiantly into the eyes of the man whom reeked of alcohol. He had noticed the Fujimura family crest on the man's sleeve when he grabbed him and assumed that this man was probably Arturia's Father... or Master.

"Dad, come on," Arturia grabbed his arm and tugged a little. "We'll go home and do something." The man let go of Shirou and turned around, suddenly ecstatic again, leading Arturia away. She looked over her shoulder at them once more before turning a corner and disappearing.

"She certainly doesn't _act_ like your Saber," Rin huffed.

"I don't think she likes me," Shirou muttered from beside her. Rin looked at him sympathetically before sighing and dragging him down the sidewalk toward the park.

"Saber," she started, still dragging Shirou. "Was she a Servant?"

"There was a Master and Servant," he started. "My magic is not good. I can't even guarantee that she was in the pair. I think it's safe to assume though; the pair left with her."

"Wait a minute!" Shirou started, pulling Rin to a stop. "She can't be a Servant!" he exclaimed almost happily. Rin looked at him skeptically. "We have a Saber Servant!"

"Shirou, Heroes can be summoned as more than one class," Rin said carefully. Shirou stared at her, dumbstruck.

"I can be a Rider," Saber told his Master, which she repeated.

"Based on her myth, King Arthur could be a Lancer or Rider... Maybe Archer—"

"Alex has a Rider and that tall guy had a Lancer, so all that would be left is Archer." He curled up his nose at that thought. He had a hard time imagining his Saber as an Archer class.

They continued into the park, where Rin and Shirou each took a swing, while Saber sat on the grass beside them in Shirou's school uniform. It was dark and quiet with only the subtle lights and sounds from the city beyond the parks edge in the background.

Rin's mind continued to be preoccupied with her thoughts of Sakura being a possible Master. She kept telling herself that she had no rights to Sakura—that anything Sakura did had nothing to do with her, but she couldn't beat the feeling in her stomach that something was wrong with her—she had gotten herself into something she wouldn't be able to control.

"You're quiet," Shirou said quietly, looking at the world around them.

"I'm allowed to be," she answered just as quietly. She was pulling herself back and forth on the swing, but not actually swinging.

"You are," he agreed, "But something is bothering you."

"Foolish things," she answered, still staring at her shoes.

"It's funny," Shirou started, looking at the night sky above them. "I miss her so much, and seeing her makes me miss her even more—"

"But then she opens her mouth and you miss her a little less?" Rin scoffed, finally looking at him with soft eyes. Shirou smiled and nodded, glad to get a not-sad reaction from the girl.

"I have you for the dirty looks," he added jokingly. She glared at him, earning a chuckle. She smirked a bit, realizing what he was doing.

"Why are you so curious about this blonde girl?" Saber asked from the ground beside them.

"She looks like King Arturia," Shirou answered, staring at the sky again. "Right down to the hairstyle she had at school today. My Saber."

Jason couldn't help but scoff.

"No woman is never truly yours, let alone a Servant." Shirou looked shocked for a moment, and then he smiled. He was right. That was part of the reason he loved Arturia-Saber so much—because she didn't belong to any one person.

"That's it!" Shirou jumped up after a tense moment, taking Saber and Rin by surprise. Rin opened her mouth to ask what he was doing, but before she could get anything out, Shirou grabbed her swing and pulled her back before quickly pushing her forward on the swing. She let out a shocked squeal, followed by giggle and full out laughter as he continued to push her. Jason and Shirou chuckled at the uptight Magus giggling like a school girl on a swing.

After a couple minutes, the happy atmosphere was shattered. Merlin appeared before them in her robes, a desperate look on her face. Shirou quickly stopped Rin's swing.

"What's wrong?" he asked quickly. "Where's Ilya?"

"Master Shirou, Ilya—"

* * *

The once hot cup of tea in front of Shirou had gone cold an hour ago. The only sound in the room was the clock on the wall across from him.

_Tik. Tok. Tik. Tok. Tik. Tok..._

He glanced up at the clock and sighed heavily. 11:46PM.

Shirou stood up, but quickly sat back down anxiously. Two hours and 32 minutes had passed since Merlin had appeared in the park, insisting Rin come help Ilya. Shirou pushed Rin to her, demanding they go. Rin quickly ordered Saber to follow Shirou and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Saber picked up Shirou and moved as quickly as his legs would carry them.

They had arrived at the house in mere minutes. Shirou quickly jumped away from the Saber Servant and bolted through his house, only to hit a sweet smelling barrier. Saber wandered in after a minute and leaned against the wall. He looked at the crumbled mess on the floor in front of the bounded field with his fists still laying against it. He looked pathetic.

Shirou gritted his teeth angrily.

He wasn't mad at Rin or Merlin for locking him out of Ilya's room and he certainly wasn't angry at Ilya for being sick—but at himself. He had one family member alive, and regardless of how hard he fought, it seemed hopeless that his magic ability would ever get to a level that he could save her. That thought made him angrier than anything else ever had. He had a Reality Marble and Noble Phantasm as a human and the potential to become a Heroic Spirit in death and yet, here he was; sitting idly in his living room while Rin did what she could to stop his sisters Prana from killing her.

"You are an interesting kid, you know that?" Saber phased into Rin's spot, sitting casually with Shirou's school uniform.

"How so?" he muttered tiredly, glancing at him from the corner of his eye.

"You are sitting here feeling sorry for yourself, because as a Magus, you can't save your sister from a magical illness, but as a human—" Shirou leapt from his spot and grabbed the tanned Servant by the collar, pulling him toward himself and gritting his teeth in anger. "You have no problem taking on Heroic Spirits," he continued as if the redhead hadn't grabbed him.

Shirou huffed and flung Saber's collar away from him and sat back in his seat.

"I haven't given up on Ilya—I will _never_ give up on Ilya," he declared with sheer determination in his voice. "I just—I feel so helpless right now." He paused and looked at the Servant through his bangs. "You must be loving this." Jason raised an eyebrow as if he didn't understand him. "Me admitting that saving Ilya won't be easy." Jason closed his eyes, smirked, and shifted to stand up.

"I'm not happy you're miserable—or that your sister is sick," he stated. "I'm not even happy you are getting your ego knocked like this." He paused and stood up, walking behind Shirou and sitting on his haunches, setting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Take it from a Greek King, Kid— there is always going to be a monster or god stronger than you, and as soon as you figure that out, you can find a way to fight back." With that, he vanished.

Shirou sat in dead silence for only another moment before Rin slunk tiredly into the living room. Shirou quickly stood up and began demanding to know how Ilya was. Rin just waved off whatever he was going to say and sat beside him.

"She's fine," she muttered. Shirou basically fell into his spot in relief. Rin leaned against him and sighed peacefully.

"She overflowed," Rin said quietly after a long moment. Shirou stiffened drastically. "Merlin tried to contain her, but no Servant would be able to contain a Grail."

"But she's ok?" he asked again, just to make sure. Rin nodded and he released a breath he didn't know he had held. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and softly kissed her head, making her blush.

"Thanks, Rin."

* * *

The next morning, Rin and Ilya were both tired, but according to Rin, she looked much better than the night before.

She spent the morning snuggling in her brothers' arms. She didn't complain, although Merlin and Jason could tell she wanted to sit by herself after a while.

"With Ilya better," Rin started, "I would like to bring up that we still have one Master whom knows both of our identities and a Lancer Master –at least- messing with bounded fields."

"And we have no leads to go after either," Shirou pointed out.

"A barrier," Merlin and Saber announced simultaneously from the hall. Saber gestured for Caster to continue. "A bounded field seems to attract the attention of Masters."

"At least if yesterday meant anything," Saber added. Rin raised her hand to her chin in thought.

"We can't hurt anyone," Shirou insisted. Rin resisted rolling her eyes at his naiveté.

"No one said we would," she started. She got up to grab the teapot. Saber beat her to it, waving her off. She just got comfortable again and thanked him. "Bounded fields don't have to be harmful anyway," she reminded. "They can be made to protect things too."

"Like what?"

"In this case, it doesn't have to be anything in particular. We could set up dozens of barrier points –like Shinji and Rider did- over somewhere that is popular during the day or that could be considered special to the Grail War and lure the Masters in."

"To take their Command Seals?" Shirou questioned. Rin nodded.

"Why wouldn't we just kill the Servants?" Saber asked with a raised brow.

"Ilya is an Einzburn Homunculi," Rin answered. "She is already overflowing from the power of the last Grail War. She wasn't supposed to make it through the last war. After 5 Servants were absorbed, she started turning into the Grail. If we feed her anymore—"

"I'll probably turn into the Grail," Ilya said innocently. The room turned solemn.

"How are we going to power a barrier like that?" Saber asked, pouring tea for Rin and breaking the silence. "My Prana dependence is absolute. I would be less than useless in a fight if Rin is powering a barrier."

"I can make my own Prana, but not at a helpful rate," Merlin chimed in. "I would be Prana dependant too, so Master Shirou—" Shirou held his hand up to cut his Servant off. He knew that he didn't have the power to sustain Merlin and himself at a constant level, let alone a barrier as well.

"I could do it—" Ilya broke in from her brothers' lap. Shirou immediately and adamantly protested Ilya being anywhere near the barrier—never mind being its core. "I just overflowed, Nii-chan," she pointed out. "I have too much Prana for my circuits, a barrier—"

"—Would put you in the middle of a Grail War Free-for-all. No."

"Shirou," Rin broke in seriously. "She would be perfect."

"Rin!" he objected angrily.

"Not only would she be able to power a massive barrier," she continued despite his protest. "She would be expelling a massive about of Prana—more than she could in months of creating Prana Jewels and we would be with her." She paused, letting her argument sink in. "You keep sending Merlin back to watch her. We'll need Merlin and Ilya will be with her."

"I don't like this," Shirou stated bitterly. He hated using Ilya, but he couldn't think of an argument against them other than "_I'm her brother and I say no!_".

"I didn't expect you to," Rin pointed out. "Tomorrow, after Ilya has slept, we'll make a bounded field. Today, we'll prepare, ok Shirou?" He just nodded. Rin stood up, put away her plates, put on her outdoor clothes and left.

Shirou sighed and turned back to his food, eating around Ilya. He didn't eat with them earlier. He didn't have much of an appetite after Ilya overflowing the night before.

"Ne, ne Shirou-nii-chan," Ilya started, twisting around in his lap, bracing herself against his chest and staring up at his with her best puppy-dog eyes. "I'm sick of Japanese food. Can I have Maultaschen?" Shirou looked away from her eyes, hoping that she would look away, but she didn't.

"I don't know, Ilya..." Shirou started. He couldn't take her out shopping with him—Rin said she should sleep! — but he didn't want to leave her at home either.

"Please Nii-chan," she begged again. "I'll sleep until you get home, then I'll make it with you." Shirou sighed and kissed her forehead. He couldn't say no to her.

"I guess I'll go to that German store you like... Can you stay with her, Merlin?" She just nodded. He moved out from under a cheering Ilya. He made sure to leave his cell phone number before he left.

Finally with Shirou out of the house, Ilya sighed and sank back into her seat. Merlin shimmered and flashed into her casual clothing and leaned against her elbow on the coffee table.

"You are very manipulative." Ilya smirked before yawning.

"I love him, and I love the attention," she defended. "I wasn't trying to get him away from me or anything. I'm hoping that if he gets out of the house _normally_, he will calm down a little." She stood and walked over to the kitchen to make tea. "And I really am sick of Japanese food." she added. Merlin just nodded and turned to the TV.

"Was Master Shirou like this with King Arturia?" Merlin asked suddenly, staring blankly at the anime flashing across the screen. "Leaving her at home?" Ilya giggled and nodded.

"It really annoyed her," she said thoughtfully. "He didn't want her to get hurt so he tried to fight without her." Merlin smirked.

Shirou reminded her, a lot of her King. Arturia tried to hide her human emotions—but she knew that Avalon would protect her and hated the idea of her knights or soldiers dying for her even though she knew that they had to sometimes—not for her, but for her people. Shirou seemed to be just as bad.

As much as she appreciated the Fey for creating the sheath that protected her King and Master, a small piece of her wished they hadn't. It gave them an inferiority complex: because Avalon would heal them quickly, they were more worth the risk of injury than someone who might even know what they were doing.

She had no doubt that her King could look after herself—she had proved it, even without protection of the infamous sword and sheath. She knew about Shirou's ability—past and future and knew that he would be able to defend himself, but also knew he had would have to learn to let someone help him.

* * *

Shirou thanked the woman behind the counter and turned to leave. He wasn't paying attention, thinking about the battle he was sure would come the next day and what could happen to his sister.

Dozens of scenarios played through his head about what could happen if something went wrong tomorrow. Ilya could over-clock herself, something could go wrong with the barriers and the feedback could hurt her, they could just fail and a Servant could attack her—

He tried as hard as he could, but he just could not get the voice of his older self, out of his head. "_Ilya will be dead in a year, even if she makes it out of this War._" He shook his head furiously, banishing his voice from his head.

A split second later, he felt himself run violently into someone in front of him, knocking them both over in front of the store.

"S-Sorry!" he blurted out, rubbing his head.

"Look where you're going!" the girl he ran into muttered angrily. He apologized again before actually looking at her. She had long, blonde twin tails that looked like drills and an expensive looking blue dress. She stared back in shock.

"L-Luviagelita..." She puffed her cheeks out indignantly, crossing her arms and turning away.

"What are _you_ doing here, Shirou?" she asked. He stood up and held his hand out for her to take.

"I live here," he started, pulling her up and gathering his things. "What are you doing here?" she turned away again before grinning, putting her hand on her hip and waving her finger in front of her face.

"I'm here on official Edelfelt business!" she declared, punctuating her sentence with a wink. Shirou smirked fondly. She looked so much like Rin—but both girls would kill him if he pointed that out.

"Family got hired for a job in the area?" he asked absently. She dropped her cocky demeanor for only a second, before laughing obnoxiously.

"Yes. A very important assignment." Shirou just smiled and shook his head. She relaxed for a moment and looked at him fondly.

"Are you making something for supper?" she asked offhandedly, making casual conversation and slightly disturbing him. Usually, Luvia wouldn't make mundane conversation with him—usually because she would notice that Rin was with him, and they would start fighting. The two girls were so similar they hated each other. Even if she did talk to him at the Clock Tower, she was usually bragging up research.

"Ah, yeah," he started, remembering that she was talking to him. "German food."

"I didn't know you like German food!" she exclaimed. "I was just thinking I would go to this little German restaurant I saw, coming into town. If you aren't eating with anyone, would you want to join me?"

Shirou resisted biting his lip. He didn't want to say that he was eating with Rin and Ilya. Luvia had left the Tower before Shirou and Rin, so she probably didn't know she was here—it was probably safer that way. He also didn't want her knowing about Ilya. The Tower _hated_ Shirou because he was an Emiya - and he was adopted!- he could only imagine their reaction to a _by-blood_ Emiya. If Luvia knew about her and told the Tower out of spite to Rin—

"Well, have fun I guess," he responded awkwardly and moved around her. "But I've got plans, so I'll see you at the Clock Tower!" with that, he broke into a run. She looked after him almost sadly.

* * *

When Shirou got home, Ilya was in bed like she promised. He spent his quiet time, discussing strategies with his Servant and looking at books of swords and Heroic myths—determined to be as prepared as possible.

When Ilya woke up, she excitedly pulled Shirou into the kitchen and began cooking their supper.  
There had been no sign of Rin or Saber, but they decided to make enough for them regardless, assuming that they would either eat it when they got home, or that Ilya could eat it later as leftovers.

Ilya made a mess trying to start a water fight with her brother using the sink. After a minute or so of asking her to stop, he submitted, splashing water from the tap at her before they eventually degraded to a tickle fight in the middle of the kitchen. The house was filled with laughter.

Their little tickle fight tired Ilya out, so she went to sit with Merlin while Shirou continued making supper. They all continued to talk while he cooked. When the food was done, Merlin got up to help him bring the plates and drinks over.

Supper passed without a hitch and was filled with laughter and good conversation while they ate. Ilya couldn't help but smile the whole time, loving that the walk seemed to have done him good.

After supper, Ilya turned on one of her anime and chatted with Merlin while Shirou washed the dishes. He had insisted that he could do them himself, leaving the girls to relax. They would both be doing a lot of work the next day, and he wanted to make sure they were completely rested. While he worked on the dishes Rin and Saber came home. They didn't say anything. Saber grabbed the plates Shirou had made for them and disappearing down the hall with his Master, who was carrying a couple of shopping bags.

After a couple moments, Merlin walked over and began drying. He smiled thankfully, but turned back to the dishes. Another couple moments passed before she placed a hand on Shirou's arm, breaking him out of whatever thoughts were bothering him.

"What is it, Master?" she asked curiously.

"What do you mean?" he asked innocently.

"You have been washing that plate for five minutes." He looked down at the plate and blushed, passing it to her.

"I haven't heard from Sakura since she left yesterday," he admitted.

"Is that odd?" she asked, setting the now dry plate in the cupboard.

"She usually comes over every day, even after I went to England—to look after Ilya if nothing else." Merlin just nodded. "I hope Rin didn't say anything too harsh..."

"Why don't you ask, if it's bothering you, Master? I can finish these." She took the cloth from Shirou, not giving him much of a choice. He smiled and moved through the living room and over to the door. He raised his hand to knock; but was cut off by Rin's voice from the other side of the door.

"Saber, out!" In full armor, Saber appeared beside him with Rins clothes thrown over his arm and sniggered evilly. He clapped his hand across Shirou's back, taking him off guard a little.

"Good luck, Kid!"

"Wha—" Rin opened the door in black heals and a red and black bra and panty set, trying to look annoyed but blushing cutely. Shirou's eyes roamed slowly up her long legs, along the black and red lace fabric across her hips and up her flat stomach, stopping at the matching bra where her creamy breasts were proudly on display in front of him. He tried futility to wet his suddenly dry mouth.

"Call Merlin," she ordered with a cocky grin. She _loved_ getting that reaction. He opened his mouth to speak, but looked as if he had swallowed his tongue. "Call Merlin," she repeated, taking a seductive step forward, leaning forward slightly to better show off her chest. She put one hand on his chest, keeping him away when he went to move forward. He willed Merlin over, hoping if he wanted her there bad enough, she would appear. He had no idea what Rin wanted her for, but he was not in a place to argue. Merlin popped her head around the corner with a dish still in her hands. She raised an eyebrow at the Magus' in front of her.

"Erect a barrier," Rin ordered. Merlin didn't. Rin smirked a little more and grabbed his shirt, pulling him forward. She whispered something into his ear, making his eyes widened a little.

"S-soundproof!" he ordered, barely finding his voice. Merlin disappeared around the corner. A sweet, cherry, smelling barrier quickly appeared around them. Rin grinned and pulled Shirou into the room.

* * *

If you have any questions, feel free (and encouraged!) to leave a review, and I can answer you! But the next chapter should explain a couple things too.

I hope you like it!

R+R


	5. Assault

**Sorry this took so long!** I found certain scenes really hard to write for some reason. I didn't want to post something I didn't like- or think you would like. I figured the wait was worth not posting crap... but I'm happy with the chapter now, so I hope you guys like it too!

**Warning**: There is "Adult language" and SLIGHT nudity, just saying.

* * *

**Chapter Five: Assault**

* * *

The sun peaked through the curtains in Shirou's room, making Rin cover her eyes before grabbing the covers to her chest and sitting up. She smiled lightly at the redhead beside her before shifting to get off the bed. Her black hair cascaded loosely down her back and she stubbornly tried to blow her bangs out of her face. She'd have to run to her room to do her hair after she got dressed.

She looked back at the peacefully sleeping Shirou, gazing at the scar on his chest from the last war. Her heart still skipped a beat and the breath caught in her throat whenever she saw that scar. She had lost him before she had even really known him. Looking back on it, she supposed Avalon probably would have healed him, but she didn't regret using her father's Ruby.

The blankets shifting off him woke Shirou up, making him slap his arm over his eyes to stop the bright light from outside from going into his eyes. After a moment, he sat up, the blankets pooling around his waist.

"Everything ok?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes and watching as she felt around the floor for her clothes. She was thankful that Shirou has bought 3 western style beds when she and Ilya had both moved in. They were far more comfortable than the futons he had before.

"Fine," she started, putting her bra over her chest and asking Shirou to fasten it. "I just didn't think that you wanted your sister knowing we slept together." Shirou nodded, but didn't really care. Ilya was technically older than him—and had joked that they probably were sleeping together before. He wasn't very worried about it.

She pulled her panties up her long legs, Shirou watching every inch the fabric touched. She stood up and finished pulling them on and smirked at the redhead.

"I meant," he started, pausing for a minute. "Did I upset you?" Rin raised an eyebrow, turning completely to him.

"What do you mean?" she asked, crawling back onto the bed and sitting there as if she wasn't half naked.

"Usually when you jump me like that, you're mad at something." He was right—the last time Rin had approached him like that, they had, had to spend the day with that stupid Luviagelita who had spent the entire time insulting her and flirting shamelessly with an oblivious Shirou, much to her jealousy. Not that she'd ever admit it out loud. Rin smirked again and shook her head.

"If anything, you were the one upset." She kissed his shoulder and stood back up, looking around the room for her clothes again. Shirou smiled. Stupid Saber had probably told Rin how he was feeling—or maybe Rin just knew him as well as she claimed to, and could tell everything with the war, Sakura and Ilya was getting to him.

The black haired girl sat quietly on the bed for a moment, turning her body to Shirou.

"We're right to use Ilya," she started tentatively. Shirou turned his head, but glanced back at her from under his bangs. "But I shouldn't have undermined you in front of Caster."

Shirou just sighed and turned to the end of his bed. He picked up his boxers and moved to put them on, but paused. Rin was still staring at him. He knew that she felt bad about using Ilya—especially knowing how much it bothered him. He didn't like it, but he knew deep down that it was the right choice. Ilya would feel better, and with any luck, he would eliminate a couple of Masters in the process.

"Thanks," he muttered. She just smiled and stood up. She looked behind the bedside table and under the bed, before standing in the middle of his room and huffing angrily, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at the door.

"Sa-ber!" she yelled angrily, turning to Shirou and blushing. "He took my clothes." Shirou laughed and got out of bed, slipping on his boxers and walking over to the dresser. He pulled out a t-shirt Taiga had bought him and threw it at her before putting on his regular clothes.

Rin threw it over her head but continued to blush. The T-shirt didn't cover her ass, so she was standing there trying to pull it down. Shirou just snickered and led her out of the room.

"I can't go out like this!" she exclaimed, stopping at the door.

"Who are you worried about? My pre-pubescent sister or the two Servants?" Rin huffed again and opened the door. As they passed the barrier, it cracked and broke behind them.

"Saber!" she yelled, preparing to stomp around the house and kill her Greek Servant in her quest for her clothes. She paused after a couple seconds, as they approached the corner. Rin stopped suddenly holding her arm out for Shirou to stop as well. They heard the door shut and someone shuffle around the front of the house. Shirou and Rin both cocked their circuits. With the war going on, anyone could have just walked in that door.

"Shirou!" He sighed and leaned against the wall, out of Taiga's sight.

"Why is she here?" he muttered.

"It's Monday. We have a bigger problem." She pointed to herself, reminding Shirou that she was half naked. "Get out there and distract her! I'll call Saber into your room." She ran back over to the door of his room and he turned around the corner, pretending to yawn.

"Morning!" he announced.

"Where were you on Friday?" she asked, tapping her foot on the floor and crossing her arms over her chest.

"I told you: I stayed at a friends'," he said vaguely, sitting down. Taiga hadn't liked Rin living with him before, and didn't know that they shared a suite in England, so saying that he stayed at Rins house 'unsupervised' was probably not a good thing. Especially considering what he had done to Rin the night before—

"Shirou, are you hiding secrets from your big sister..?" she loomed over him with puppy dog eyes, almost breaking his resolve to remain silent.

"You don't know them, Taiga—" he started, trying to satisfy her curiosity without giving anything away. She grabbed his collar and pulled her kendo sword from nowhere, making Shirou flinch. He knew that he could easily kill her, let alone fight her off, but he wouldn't. He couldn't imagine hurting her.

"Oi Shirou!" the voice that Shirou knew belonged to Saber came closer, and he could only hope that he was dressed in normal clothing. "Where's—Oh, hello," he entered the room in a muscle shirt that showed every defined muscle in his torso, and sweatpants with a towel over his shoulders. Shirou rolled his eyes, knowing that Saber didn't need to train or sweat—he was just being weird.

"Is this the person-" she started angrily but cut herself off, just staring at him for a moment.

He was surprised when Taiga let him go and walked over to the Greek. Saber smirked handsomely and took her hand, kissing the top of it. "Who is this lovely lady?" he looked up into her eyes through his bangs. She stood shocked for a moment as her eyes glittered gold. She pulled her hand away shyly, smiling at the Greek.

"T-Taiga," she muttered shyly, turning away and blushing deeply. "Who's this gentleman, Shirou?" Shirou raised an eyebrow as Jason stood up, rubbing the back of his head shyly.

"You may call me Jay," he said bowing.

"Hey _Jay,_" Shirou spat from behind them. "Could you return those clothes you borrowed last night?" Jason looked past him questioningly, before feeling an aura of pure anger behind him. He turned slowly to his half naked Master before quickly excusing himself.

"Hey Taiga-nee—" She turned and sat down at the table, staring off into space with a gold glint in her eyes. Shirou waved his hand in front of her face before sighing and moving into the kitchen to make supper. He'd have to ask the Greek Servant if he charmed her.

"Where _did_ you meet such a _handsome_ young man?" she exclaimed, swooning in her seat.

"Ah, school," he muttered vaguely. He hated lying to her, but he wouldn't risk her knowing about the Grail Wars either.

Surprisingly, she took the answer without any argument and continued to look ahead, staring into space.

After a couple minutes, Rin walked into the living room, clapping dust off her hands as Jason followed her as far as the hallway, before turning toward the back of the house, rubbing his head. It didn't really hurt when she punched him on the head, but although no one saw—it hurt his pride.

"Good morning Sensei—"

"Don't bother," Shirou said from the kitchen as she walked over to the counter. She grabbed the cup of tea waiting for her and raised her eye brow, turning to the living room and leaning against the counter. "She met _Jay_." Rin narrowed her eyes pensively. What did her womanizing Servant do?

"Did she say anything about me being here?" she asked.

"She was upset that I wouldn't tell her where I was the other day," he started. "But I don't think she realizes you are here. She's not paying attention to anything but Saber." Rin smirked around her cup a little. She didn't know what Jason did, but that ability could come in handy.

They ate breakfast in peace—again without Sakura. Taiga hardly ate her food before Shirou and Rin basically pushed her out of the house with a Bento box so she could go to work. After a moment, they watched her freak out that she was going to be late and run down the street.

"Saber!" Rin yelled into the house.

"He's outside," Ilya muttered, yawning and walking into the room with her PJ's on. Shirou smiled and passed her food. She took it gratefully and began eating at a pace bordering on Arturia-Saber and Taiga.

"_Hunger is the enemy!_" he heard her exclaim in his head. He sighed sadly before going back to the kitchen to do dishes.

"Yes Master?" he asked, appearing behind her in his armour. She twitched angrily.

"Did you curse Shirou's sister?" Ilya paused and raised her eyebrow. She was fine...

"Taiga?" Ilya returned to eating as he rubbed the back of his head, nervously. "I didn't mean to," he admitted. "She's not a Magus—or has less magic resistance than I do." Rin sighed. "It's probably already worn off." Rin just nodded.

"Taiga was kind of adopted by our Dad just before I was," Shirou filled in. "She's not a Magus."

"Noted. I won't look in her eyes." Shirou just thanked him and turned back to the dishes.

"So when are we doing the barrier?" Ilya asked, finishing her rice and moving on to the two pieces of fish that Shirou had given her.

"I talked to Ryuudou Temple yesterday," Rin answered. "They are going to close for the next 2 days so that we can use it." Shirou raised an eyebrow. He knew how evil and manipulative Rin was— And how much she scared Issei.

"What did you do?" he asked accusingly. She stuck out her cheeks indignantly.

"Nothing bad," she insisted. "I simply… asked Issei to leave." Shirou gave her a doubtful look. As scared as Issei was of Rin, he couldn't imagine what the black haired woman could have said to convince him to leave.

"Ahha... And Reikan?"

"I… might have promised him a date with Taiga if he left for a couple days," she muttered around her glass, looking anywhere but at the accusing eyes of the other Magus.

"Rin!"

"Haha!" Ilya giggled. Shirou and Rin just looked at her funny.

"Can you even do that?" Shirou asked. "_Borrow_ Ryuudou?"

"Medea did it and the church didn't say anything," Jason's eyes widened in surprise.

_Without warning, the witch of Colchis had attacked his wedding day—setting ablaze to every living person in the hall—except he, himself. Creusa had been the first, bursting into flames before his eyes and falling to the ground in excruciating screams. He quickly fell to the floor with her, yelling her name over the shocked crowd. Her cries fizzled out as she reached out to him, but within seconds, she was dead._

_Startled by the sudden death of his new bride, he sat wide-eyed in front of her. Next, her father behind him burst into pained flames. He leapt to his feet, but before he knew it the whole room had erupted into agony and hot fire. _

_He looked to the end of the room through the flames to see a figure in blue and purple, unharmed by the flames and an evil laugh filled his ears. _

"_You used me!" it screamed into the chaotic room, humor dripping from the voice before the laughter continued._

"_Medea," he muttered in recognition before the pain of losing his new wife took him over. "You witch! Medea!" he yelled into the fire. The laughter stopped dead. _

"_This is entirely your fault! You used me!" she screamed again, the hood flying off her face. All humor in her voice was gone and through the flames, he could see the tears dripping down her face. "You took everything away from me!"_

_He had wronged her by leaving her for Creusa but he hadn't expected her to react this way—by just blindly killing everyone she felt had caused her pain. Her love of him had been brought on by Aphrodite; he thought that when he didn't need her anymore, Aphrodite would just end the spell._

"_Suffer you bastard!"_

"Medea was a Servant _and_ _Master_ in the last war," Shirou pointed out, breaking the Greek out of his memories. "Kotomine didn't do anything because he was a lazy asshole," Shirou mumbled angrily, knocking back the rest of his tea as if he was drinking Sake.

'_A Master!_'he questioned to himself. "Medea..." he murmured quietly from behind his Master. Rin heard him and wondered how much of Medea's myth Jason remembered.

"And your point?" Rin asked, flustering Shirou.

"Sh-She broke the rules!"

"If the church comes after us, I'll handle them." Rin assured, waving his worries off. "Are you done, Ilya?" Ilya nodded but jumped up to change.

"Merlin," Shirou called. "Ilya's protection and your safety are your first priority." Caster opened her mouth to protest, but just nodded under her hood.

"Stop being a child, Shirou," Rin murmured.

"I'm not," he insisted. "We're using my sister as Servant bait. I'll look after myself." Rin rolled her eyes.

She knew he could defend himself, but Shirou had flown under the Clock Tower's radar most of his life. That all changed when he went there with her after the last war. They quickly figured out who he was. Rin had convinced them that he was adopted and an Emiya only by name, but they still breathed down his neck. They were horrified at the thought of another Magus Killer. She could only imagine how their brains would explode if they saw his Reality Marble.

"Ready!" Ilya declared, running into the room with her clothes from the last Grail War. Despite himself, he smiled. How could she smile to innocently going into a war zone?

* * *

"You could have at least _pretended_ to help, Saber," Shirou grumbled from his knees. Rin and Shirou were working their way around and through the temple, placing the barrier points Ilya would use to erect the bounding field later that night. Due to having less magic ability then Shirou a year ago, Saber was just sitting wherever they were. Right now, he was lounging in a tree not far from Shirou.

"I _would_ just be pretending," he started, looking out of the corner of his eye at Shirou. "The only magic I can do is changing into my armour, summoning my sword and using my Noble Phantasm—which is _not _a barrier," he pointed out.

"Is it hexing Taiga-nee?" he muttered bitterly. Saber glared childishly.

"It's the fault of my Noble Phantasm," he said snidely. "It's not the purpose, but it's a side effect!"

"Saber behave," Rin ordered, rubbing the sweat from her brow and moving to another spot. Shirou finished his and sat back, taking a break by looking at the cloudless sky above them, admiring how the blue from the day started to meld into the yellow and orange of the evening. Slowly his eyes drifted off to the trees beside them. That had been the last place Rin had seen Saber—smiling as she was sucked back to the Throne of Heroes.

At least, that's what Rin said.

Shirou just remembered the painful hole torn in his heart when the seal Rin gave him disappeared from his arm and the pure, blind rage with which he attacked Gilgamesh.

He shook the thoughts out of his head focusing on tonight. He had lost Saber here—he wouldn't lose Ilya here too.

"Are you ready, Ilya?"

Shirou followed the two girls across the temple yard, through the halls and down the stairs to the basement where an alter was set up for Ilya. She took off her hat and jacket, folding them up and setting them on a table beside the door. She hugged Shirou tightly around his neck, before walking to the middle of the room. She smiled brightly at him as if to tell him that she would be fine, before breathing deeply and muttering a few words under her breath.

She erupted in a burst of lavender light that nearly blinded the other two Magus' and hovered a couple of inches off the ground, her eyes glowing a darker purple and mouth open in a silent scream. Shirou clenched his eyes and turned his head away as the smell of fresh snow and Friesian Tea wafted over them. Rin walked up to her to make sure that everything was working correctly. After a moment, Shirou open the door to go back up stairs and rushed Rin upstairs.

"Let's get this over with."

* * *

Arturia stretched across her bed and yawned, dropping her school book. She usually was pretty good at studying, but the war was completely distracting her. They had no discernible leads to where a Master might be. While she was thankful that no one seemed to be stirring up trouble with innocents, she half wished someone would do something.

Without warning, a sharp sound vibrated painfully through her head, startling her and almost making her fall off her bed. She grabbed her ears and held them for a moment, willing the pain to go away.

"The hell is that!" she growled out. Archer looked up from his book and cocked an eyebrow at her. "You didn't feel it?" He sighed.

"If it was something magic: no," he answered boredly. "Need I remind you of my class?" Arturia rolled her eyes and let go of her head. The sound was now more of ringing in her ears.

"A huge wave of magic just passed over us," she elaborated, standing up and grabbing her coat and putting her hair up.

Archer stood up and closed his eyes picturing himself in a red leather jacket, black shirt and jeans. The familiar wave of magic washed over him, changing himself out of his hard earned armour and into the more casual clothes. He assumed they were going after the source of the magic she had sensed and it was late. While he knew his Master was capable of defending herself from weirdo's; he wanted to get a laugh or two out of the encounter as well, if it were to happen. He waited for her to finish getting ready.

He had spent days with this girl, and still found it hard to believe how much she looked like his Saber. She was certainly crasser than the Saber he had known, but she seemed like a good enough girl, if not a little bi-polar at times. She reminded him a lot of Rin—not that he was brave enough to tell either of them that. He had seen their last encounter and knew better.

Arturia had curled up on her bed for hours after she got home, muttering darkly about 'the mouthy little rich girl' and 'stupid stalker'. It would have been hilarious if he wasn't so worried about her burning down her house.

Her temper matched her Elemental affinity—fire; although she liked to try and use mind spells; especially on the Yakuza on the compound. They were easy targets for her to practice on and amusing as hell.

"Archer," she whispered to her invisible Servant, grabbing her boots from beside the door and quickly slipping them on. "Someone's outside the compound."

"I'm ready." She nodded and casually left her father's house. Arturia checked every Yakuza she passed, making sure they were where they were supposed to be. She doubted a Yakuza would be stupid enough leave their post with both Oyabun and herself home, or that a Magus would try and penetrate her territory, but she decided to be safe.

She strolled down the street, just past the compound, trying to act casual, but all the while hearing a sharp screech in her ears, telling her that someone dangerous was around.

Archer kept a sharp eye out, pretending to help his Master find something on a map. He didn't use any of his class abilities to start, not wanting to activate his circuits and let any Magus or Servant nearby know they were there, but looked out for the slightest movement around them. The street was quiet—almost eerily so. He wasn't thrilled about them being out in the open so close to Shirou's house, but tried not to let it distract him. There didn't appear to be any lights on—maybe they weren't even home.

Suddenly, he heard the very familiar sound of an arrow whirling through the air at top speed toward his Master. He quickly grabbed her around the waist and moved slightly to the side; making her drop her map. Arturia looked up at him in shock, not even realizing that he had grabbed her.

"A poisoned crossbow arrow," he muttered, more to himself than his Master. They both looked down at the short arrow that had firmly lodged itself in the sidewalk, leaking purple goo into the ground and disintegrating the paper of her map when it touched it.

Archer flinched again, spinning Arturia away from another arrow that flew past his head.

"Another Archer?" she muttered to herself. No. One class, one Servant. So what other classes would be using a bow?

Archer pulled her closer and began to move across the sidewalk as if he was dancing. His feet barely touched the ground before he was forced to move again. The arrows were beginning to come fast enough that he didn't dare put his Master down to try to counter them. He couldn't risk her getting hit by them.

Meanwhile, he had activated his circuits to reinforce his eyes, activating his _Clairvoyance._ He tried to pinpoint where exactly the arrows were coming from, but he was finding it difficult. They seemed to come from all directions, without much- if any- pattern. Just when he thought he would get a glance of something from the corner of his eye, it was gone and he would be distracted by another arrow—even with his Clairvoyance. How fast was this Servant?

Damn it.

"Not Berserker... Not Saber... Not Lancer... Not Archer..." he heard her mumbling into his chest as he continued to dance down the sidewalk. She was trying to come up with a strategy?

'Another thing not like my Saber,' he thought to himself. She would try to find the source of the attack and beat them senseless. Much like his younger self, she wasn't one for strategy in the Grail War.

"Assassin or Rider," she finally mumbled, looking up to her Servant, holding tightly to his coat. "It has to be an Assassin or Rider." Archer just nodded. "Basic stats say you should be stronger than either one." He moved again, setting his foot on the purple ground beside an arrow and hissed in pain, jumping away from the brunt of the arrow assault.

"It's poisoning the ground," he said quietly, knowing she could hear him.

"We have to figure out where they are and stop them," she said obviously. "Can you see where they are coming from?" He frowned slightly and tried to look for the Servant attacking them, but they seemed to have stopped for a moment. He looked on top of every building, tree and pole around them, knowing that the enemy was above them. Suddenly, he managed to get a pretty good look at a Green clad Servant with red hair, staring at them from the Shirou's roof.

Was Shirou or Rin attacking them..?

He pushed that thought from his head. He would handle whatever Master attacked Arturia. Period.

"Trace," he muttered, shocking his Master. Behind them, a dozen swords appeared in the air, pointed at the Emiya house. After narrowing his eyes at the house, he saw the green-clad Servant phase into his sight, aiming the cross bow on his arm at them. "Autofire!" The swords charged toward the Servant impaling themselves into the roof where the Servant had been just a split second before. He had dodged, making Archer curse to himself and shatter the ones on the roof.

"What did you do?" the blonde asked incredulously.

"Wait here," he muttered, setting her down away from the poisoned ground. "Don't get hit," he added as an afterthought.

"Obviously!" she barked, charging her hands with fire. She would use this opportunity to practice aiming her fireballs. Burning arrows out of the air would be good practice! She couldn't help but admit that she was a little curious about how her Servant fought.

Archer reinforced himself and charged toward the house, changing into his armour as he ran and hoping to sneak up on the other archer. He snuck around to the back of the house and hid on the porch below where he had last saw the green Servant and summoned Kanshou and Bakuya. He reinforced his ears, listening for any hint about where the Servant was. A twang of his bow, a click of his heal on the old roof, the rattling of arrows in a quiver—anything.

He smirked darkly when he heard the Servant mumbling above him.

"Where did that Asshole go..?" Archer soundlessly jumped from the ground in front of the porch, onto the roof behind the cross-bow bearing Servant, before quickly slicing down with his white sword. Unfortunately for him, he must have heard Archer approach because he narrowly dodged, cursing his bad luck as he dove over the side of the roof, annoying Archer.

Great. A Runner.

Archer leaped off the roof and toward the road where he saw the flash of green turn a corner toward Arturia. He cursed again and tried to speed himself up a little more. This Servant apparently had a higher speed stat than Archer, which further irritated him.

Archer turned the corner and swiped at the red headed Servant again, narrowly missing him as he ducked below the swipe. He didn't appear to have any close range weapons on him, so if he could catch him, he was confident he could end this little mosquito that night.

"Think you've got me, don'cha!" he called out, jumping away a bit to try and get room between himself and sword wielding Archer. Archer wouldn't let him get away though and charged at him again, swinging his swords at the other Servant from every direction, trying to land a clean shot.

The green Servant dodged, all the while trying to load his crossbow. Archer was almost insulted that this Servant didn't seem to be taking him seriously. Archer finally landed a hit across the chest of the other Servant who grunted in pain from the impact.

He also heard the very distinct sound of his Master cry out in pain. Archer turned to her, only to see her on her knees, clutching her arm and an arrow lodged in a tree behind her.

"Bastard!" Archer yelled and turned back to finish him off, only find he wasn't there. He looked around quickly to see if he could find him, but he was nowhere in sight.

Archer released his projections and ran over to his Master, changing back into his red leather jacket as he jogged.

He knelt down beside her and moved her blood stained hand from her arm. The arrow had just grazed her skin, but the sick purple color it was starting to turn told him the arrow had been poisoned.

"Who was that?" she ground out. Archer just shook his head.

"No idea, but we have to get the poison out of your system..." he muttered. Medicine or healing were not his strong points—he had never needed to know either since his body maintained itself. What to do?

"Don't worry about it. I'll—"

Wordlessly, he stripped off her jean jacket and picked her arm up. Just as she was about to ask what he was doing, he lowered his mouth to her arm and sucked, shocking the blonde and making her blush darker than his coat.

"Wha-wha-wha-" She couldn't form any words. She blamed the poison.

After a minute, Archer moved his head to the side and spat out the goo he had sucked from her arm. He wanted to gag and stick his tongue out childishly, but chose against it.

"Better?" he asked quietly, looking at her face for any signs of pain. She hurriedly nodded her head and grabbed her arm again, making her hand glow red. When she removed her hand again, the cut on her arm was healed and all of the infected color was gone from it.

"Y-yeah. Thanks."

* * *

Shirou and Rin sat at the entrance to the Shrine, staring off into the sunset. They were satisfied that this evening would go in their favor. The barrier points they had placed through the day were designed to lower the abilities of Magus' and Servants within its borders—hopefully by a rank. They weren't worried about their Servants however; Caster would buff Saber to keep him at a 'normal' level, while the other Servants would be lowered.

They realized that their bounding field probably wouldn't give them much—if any—advantage over a Berserker, but Shirou had a solution for that.

"If Berserker shows up, I'm using my Reality Marble— no questions." Shirou told her, breaking the silence. Rin rolled her eyes and leaned on her hand.

"Depending on Berserker's identity, Unlimited Blade Works might not kill it," she pointed out, not looking at him.

"I don't need to kill it," he started. "I need to scare the Master." He was hoping to take the command seals of Masters over killing Servants. It would be healthier on Ilya and easier to take out any remaining Masters. Rin rolled her eyes, but had to agree.

A jingle went off in their ears, warning them that someone had passed through their early warning bounding field. They stood up and stretched, cocking their circuits and preparing to quickly defeat the Master they were sure were on the way.

Saber appeared before them to block and repel the attack from the silver clad Rider. They fought each other half heartedly before breaking apart. Rider fell back beside his Master whom had just made it up the stairs.

"Shirou?" Alex caught his breath before continuing. "What are you doing?"

"Ending this war," Shirou said confidently, silently activating his circuits and summoning his black and white swords. "Give up Rider." Alex gave him an incredulous look.

"You have got to be kidding!" he exclaimed, a Lance appearing in his hand. Shirou shook his head seriously and Caster appeared beside Rin. She started chanting and a red outline flashed around Shirou and Saber. Alex sighed and poised to attack Shirou.

Rider flashed toward Shirou, but his Lance was stopped by Jason's golden sword. Shirou quickly ran past the Servants, knowing that Rin could handle them and charged at Alex.

Alex charged up his lance and intercepted the overhead slash from Shirou. When he tried to drag his other sword across the other man's stomach, Alex brought the dull end of his lance down and used a quick burst of air to deflect it. Shirou was taken off guard, making him take a step to the side to avoid losing his white projection. Alex took advantage of opening by stabbing at his torso, making him further lose his footing. A strong gust of wind erupted from the end of his lance, pushing Shirou back a couple of feet, onto his back near Rin's feet.

"Fuck," he muttered. As dangerous as it was here, he was suddenly very happy that Ilya was here with him. He could feel someone or something magical entering and leaving his property quickly and repeatedly. He had no idea what was going on in his house right now, but at least she was here where he could protect her.

"I suppose you don't want me to help you?" she asked, tapping her foot and crossing her arms cockily. He rolled his eyes and stood back up, summoning his swords again.

"Just help Saber," he answered and charged forward again. She rolled her eyes and turned back to the Servants.

Saber saw Shirou fly past him and rolled his eyes. Shirou was going to get himself killed, even with Caster's boost.

"You're playing with me." Saber turned back to Rider and pushed him back a bit.

"What are you talking about?" Saber charged forward with inhuman speed and knocked Rider back a couple feet, although he managed to keep his balance.

"I don't know what you did, but my stats are lowered," he started, powering his lance with fire. "Even assuming yours are too, you've put up more of a fight than this against a practice dummy."

"My apologies," he started, charging again. He went to stab at Rider, who quickly dodged and moved to impale the Saber. He quickly turned on a dime and deflected his lance. He then shot forward again, trying to wound the Rider. It was Riders' turn to quickly dodge, although Saber sliced his arm and sent his lance flying behind them. "Better?" he asked, slinging his sword over his shoulder and looking down on the injured and unarmed Rider.

"Rider!" Alex called worriedly across the court. Saber had just pushed Rider onto his back, and was hardly giving him a chance to get up. He gritted his teeth and turned back to the greying red-head. This was not going well for them.

"Just tell me one thing," Alex demanded, facing off toward Shirou as they both tried to catch their breaths. He and Rider had felt a pulse from the barrier around the temple from blocks away. They couldn't figure out what it did until they passed through it and felt instantly weakened. He was feeling the effects of it now although Shirou seemed mostly fine. He looked briefly past his opponent to the quarrelling Servants, then over to the chanting woman. Caster must be buffing them against the effects of their barrier. Smart. "Why are you doing this?" Shirou stiffened. "This barrier, the ambush. Why?"

Shirou simply stared at his opponent and mulled it over in his head. He had no real intention of killing him— not that he could tell him that. If he wasn't scared for his life, there was no way he would give up Rider, and killing him would be counterproductive.

"We're ending the Grail Wars," he stated simply. Alex relaxed a little and looked past Shirou. He grabbed his Servants eye and nodded faintly. Rider nodded back and got back up, grabbing his lance and beginning to chant in Greek under his breath.

"Come on," he smirked ruefully. "One of us is going to die here either way, right?" he pointed out, trying to distract Shirou's attention. He knew that Rin was still focused on the fight, but if he could keep Shirou out of it until he finished his summoning spell—

"The Grail has ruined far too many lives," he started, giving into him. "I won't let it do it again. That Grail—" he cut himself off. The Holy Grail was supposed to be the purest, greatest magic in the world. If it was ever that, all that was left was nothing more than the hollow manifestation of greed and corruption humans had poured into it over the years. "That stain of corrupted magic killed Rin's father, my father, his wife and is the reason he lost his daughter," he continued. "Now it's killing my sister. I'm ending this. If it means I'm taking you with it, so be it." Shirou gathered his resolve and launched at Alex again, reinforcing his swords to their breaking point. The longer they sat there and talked, the better the chances of another Master showing up. He had to force Alex to give up Rider—and quickly.

Shirou slammed into concrete beside the shocked Magus, shattering his swords against the ground. Alex had dived to the side just in time to miss the fatal blow. Shirou summoned another set of broken phantasms into his hands and 3 into the air around him. Alex glanced quickly over at Rider's lance, which had burst into flames, making Saber back off a bit.

Alex skittered backwards, feeling around for his lance. He knew that Shirou had been in the last Grail War: that he had won it and destroyed it, but he had been told that Shirou was a mediocre pacifist. He was seeing none of that now. He saw a desperate man, strong in his convictions and willing to do anything he had to, to finish this war. He didn't see the happy-go-lucky kid his classmates had described Shirou as. He saw the Magus Killer of his name sake. He was scared of this Shirou.

Shirou poised to attack again, but paused.

"Give me Rider," he demanded, shocking Alex again. "Last chance." Alex didn't say anything so Shirou steeled his resolve. "I'm sorry," he whispered. He raised his black phantasm to finish off Alex, when Rin was dropped unceremoniously beside him and a shadow covered them.

To the shock of the 3 Masters, Rider and Saber stood between them and the staircase to the temple, their shields drawn and ready for whatever they felt coming.

"What are they—?"

"Get down!" In a split second, Rin pulled Shirou to the ground with herself and Alex. The shock of Rin grabbing him broke Shirou's concentration, making his phantasms vanish into thin air. The distinct sound of steel slashing against bronze rang in their ears just before Rider and Saber flew over their heads and into the woods behind them. They bounced off the ground smashed painfully into the trees with a sickening crack.

"Master!" Caster called, against the temple with an extra barrier around it. Shirou looked up to the hulking figure standing over them. His skin was sickly grey and painted blue, covered in leather-like skins and angry red hair stood up wildly. There was no mistaking his class. "It's Berserker!"

Shirou cursed to himself and looked for the safest place to escape to. He had really been hoping to get rid of Alex before having to deal with Berserker. Now he possibly had to deal with two enemy Servants _and_ _show_ his Reality Marble off to two Masters. Although he knew this could end badly, he didn't see any other way out.

Shirou grabbed Rin and Alex and quickly launched them as far away from his humungous sword as possible. "_I am the bone of my sword,_" he muttered under his breath, grabbing Rin's attention.

* * *

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